Harry Reid had the most popular video on YouTube yesterday--and it is still in the top 5. In the video he says that "coal makes us sick". Apparently, somehow this is being pushed by some as proof of the Democrats being out of touch on energy issues, even though it is a fact that coal does make us sick.
In fact, coal does a lot more than make us sick--coal kills us. Every year 18,700 people die just due to respiratory diseases from coal dust. Then there is the mercury poisoning that comes from coal combustion and mining.
Incredibly, though, Sen. Reid bringing up the fact that there are large externalities associated with the use of coal as an energy source puts him out of though. The cost to burn coal is larger than people assume, that is what he is pointing out. Health costs for the countless people effected by coal production, environmental and building damage due to acid rain, the increasing concentration of green house gases, steadily rising mercury levels, and a whole host of other costs need to be considered when people claim coal is a cheap energy source.
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