Sunday, March 13th, 2011

This study found that the environmental damage caused by all the aspects of coal’s life cycle, including emissions and impact on climate change, cost the American public roughly $500 billion annually and increased the true cost of coal by up to $0.17/kWh. The study included the more than 100,000 miners killed since 1900 and the federal funding needed to cover medical costs associated with black lung disease, which has claimed more than 200,00 lives.  The authors state that “…these [externalities] are often not taken into account in decision making and when they are not accounted for, they can distort the decision-making process and reduce the welfare of society.”

Epstein, P., J. Buonocore, K. Eckerle, M. Hendryx, B. M. Stout III, R. Heinberg, R. W. Clapp, B. May, N. L. Reinhart, M. M. Ahern, S. K. Doshi, and L. Glustrom. (2011) “Full cost accounting for the life cycle of coal.” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1219: 73-98.

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