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The role of research in the coal-mining industry: Moving forward using lessons from the past 307

coal mine dust control is an example of the latter [5, 6]. Between these broad and lim-
ited approaches are systems such as the remote monitoring of atmospheric conditions,
which utilize modern communication technology to track concentrations of dangerous
gases and provide alerts when hazardous levels are reached. The value of these
systems has been proved on many occasions, and as a result, they have become the
norm in today’s coal-mining industry.

15.3.3 Coal mining has become more responsible

As the modern world moved into the age of environmentalism, the coal industry seized
the opportunity to clean up their image. Most reclamation research deals with not only
restoring disturbed lands, but also improving them. Reclamation efforts have dealt
with strata restoration, reclaiming to original contour, restoring flora and fauna hab-
itat, controlling mine and storm runoff, and revitalizing wet lands. Although the
thought may seem counterintuitive, the casual observer of the mining industry’s rec-
lamation efforts may come to the conclusion that they embody true environmentalism.
A subset of the overall reclamation topic in mining is the waste disposal issue. Only
in rare instances does Mother Nature provide minerals in pure enough form that
processing is not required to separate waste material from the desired product. Rec-
ognizing that the past practice of just tossing it aside is no longer acceptable, the min-
ing industry has examined multiple strategies for effective and responsible waste
disposal. For the most part, these strategies tend to be patterned after waste-handling
practices in other industries that typically focus on reducing waste generation by
utilizing more selective mining methods, finding beneficial ways to use the waste
material, or recycling waste material to recover secondary minerals.

15.3.4 Coal utilization has become cleaner
Perhaps on no other issue has the coal industry been saddled with an undeserved bad
reputation than on the matter of pollution or emissions from coal utilization. As human
civilization became increasingly environmentally conscious, the coal industry was
blamed for causing acid rain and responded by installing flue gas desulfurization
scrubbers. Then, the coal industry dealt with urban smog, an issue that really belonged
more to the transportation industry, by installing low-NO x burners with selective cat-
alytic reduction. The problem of particulate matter was addressed with electrostatic
precipitators and baghouses. The amazing thing is that all of these problems were
addressed with great success in ways other than reducing the amount of coal being
burned. In fact, coal utilization soared during the same period of time that emission
reductions were declining dramatically (see Fig. 15.1). Thus, thanks to the ingenuity
of the coal industry, not only did utilization become cleaner, but access to electricity
expanded substantially (see Fig. 15.2).
The biggest issue of them all when it comes to emissions is carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), a
greenhouse gas tied to climate change and global warming. This is a tough one for coal
because coal is made up mostly of carbon. Sulfur, ash, mercury, and other hazardous
elements are impurities in coal, but even if pure 100% carbon coal could be obtained,