Sulfur dioxide promotes heart disease and asthma. Coal-burning plants are industrial polluters States producing about one-third of our carbon dioxide (CO2, a major contributor to GLOBAL WARMING), 40% of our mercury (highly TOXIC if ingested), one-quarter of our nitrogen oxide (found in smog) and two-thirds of our sulfur dioxide (a part of acid rain).
But yeah, let’s all continue using this source of energy because it is SO good for the planet. It totally Super-duper helpful and safe (sarcasm).
“The working conditions in the mines were horrific. You went into the mine early in the morning, five-thirty, six o'clock. And you descended into a deep void, an area completely devoid of light. Early on, miners used a lamp with a simple flame on the top, and if that flame went out for some reason, you were in a darkness that is much darker than if you stood in a dark room and closed your eyes. And no electricity in the mines. It's an exceedingly dangerous place. It's filled with a lot of water and water seepage. There's rats all over the place. The cribbage and cribbing that holds up the wood that holds up the top of the mine is creaking constantly under the tremendous weight, a thousand feet of earth and rock and stone right above you. No one could work there that had any feelings of claustrophobia. Every day you're dynamiting underneath that mountain of rock. And it made coal mining absolutely unparalleled in terms of the dangers involved.” – Donald