Just change the coal plants to Nuclear power plants. New nuclear power technology is so many times safer and environmentally friendly than coal, oil and old nuclear plants. Tough we would probably already have got rid of all these thing if it were not for huge business in coal industry and its influence to politics.
Then you have the nuclear waste to dispose of and of course, the possibility of a nuclear catastrophe. I'm not sure what's better or worse at this point.
TheTruthHurts732 in the entire history of nuclear power there have only been 4 reactors that have failed. 4 reactor failures in 50+ yrs vs Five oil spills in the US in just the last year & at least 90 spills since 2000? Hope that truth didn't hurt too bad...
Yea, I loved the part where she talked about being able to touch it, and how harmless it is to your skin. As if THAT were the issue. I'd like to see her drink some of the contaminated water from the NC resident's home in the video.
Obvious strawman is obvious. No one was arguing that no pollution at all is desirable or even attainable but she seemed to be arguing against some imaginary person who was saying this.
Azivegu I personally don't feel sorry for her. And that argument of "just doing his or her job" is really a lame excuse to not hold themselves accountable for their immoral actions.
ThoughtfulThug I never understood the "hes just doing his job" thing. Hitmen are just doing their jobs when they murder people. Imagine if a jury acquitted a hitman because "he was just doing his job".
The last time Vice posted a video discussing coal's role in the US, the comment section was filled with people claiming that they were exaggerating the threat coal poses. Where are they now?
I work with my father who has a contract to haul coal ash to a dump site where there are hills of coal ash. I knew it was bad but not this bad, I have loaded over a 100 trucks full of ash. Almost every time the coal ash is super dry and dusty which then fills the cab of the truck in turn im breathing in. My father has been doing this for over a decade and now want him to watch this to see the impact it really has on him.
Duke Energy also runs the Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant near Raleigh, NC. This power plant has poor safety as well, vessel reactor walls have been cracking, they've even had fires! They have even refurbished parts from the Three Mile Island plant!! Shearon Harris has been shut down several times in the last few years alone. I live just 30 miles from this plant, and it scares me.
THANK YOU for covering this topic! North Carolina is home to so many aware and conscious souls, but have been under the thumb of twisted decision-making (James Arthur Pope is an individual you may want to look into.) Far too beautiful a state to be caught in a toxic tide!
My friends parents live less than a mile from that plant and when I went there a few years ago to visit, they talked about how the ash winds up on the railings, windows, etc.
I hate to be a dick but I betcha that plant was there before they moved in. this is kinda like people moving next to train tracks and complaining about the horn noise.
I’m from Yadkin county North Carolina approximately an hour and 5 minutes away from this river. This is the first I have heard of this spill, whatever is going on they made sure to keep a lid on things.
over here in Germany we do the same, about 97% percent of coal ash are recycled (the three percent is just stored temporarily and then also being used. www.powerengineeringint.com/2015/03/18/managing-coal-ash/
I live in BC Canada. In the last five years we have had record amounts of coal sales, both China and the US have been buying it like its going out of style. Something that is not addressed is coal dust, yup, dust that falls off trucks, trains, loaders and very part from harvesting to consumption. This all makes nuclear power seem like a good idea.
This is pretty despicable, but falls right in line with what I expect to hear from the U.S. Did you really ask a child about heavy metals in the water? What knowledge do you think he has of the chemical affects on his body? Why not ask him about the differences about Chromium (III) and Chromium (VI) oxides next?
The point is not that he's an expert on toxic contaminants, but that he is a child who is human and who's been affected by this disaster. It's to say that while everyone is bickering about the politics of energy and the actual toxicity of the substances, there are real people out there suffering as a result of these problems.
We can thank the chem trails for years of toxic dumping ... filter your water and use hydroponic veg growing methods and no more fish from the oceans until Mother Nature cleans her nest .. but folks we have to stop all these assaults on our earth .. especially CERN ..!
Coal ash is used with salt on streets and sidewalks in Pennsylvania. My Dad bought a coal/wood stove in the 80's. Pennsylvania has a big coal mining industry.
The solution? Thorium. Thorium is so cheap and easy to keep safe. Its one of the most common minerals found in our dirt and has almost no waste to speak of.
The Dan River runs through my city, we get all of our water directly from the river. In fact the name of the city, Danville, was named after the river. After the spill, and continuously today, Duke Energy, the EPA, and the local water treatment plant have all said that the water has been safe to drink. I've been skeptical, but I haven't noticed or heard of anything harmful that has come of this, well to the human population that is.
It is not the hexavalent chromium that causes these cancer rate growths (4.5 ppb is still an extremely low content). It is arsenic, thorium, uranium, thallium, nickel, and cadmium which pose the major threat. Another threat is mercury, lead and selenium which may lead to brain & nervous system damage (first 2), and to issues like blindness (Se).
then your screwed if your nuclear reactor has a total meltdown because just about everyone within fallout range will die look at Chyrnoble and how bad that was and how bad that still is
***** Chernobyl can not happen again. It's technologically impossible with current nuclear technology. Chernobyl happened because of an inexperienced engineer doing the wrong things at the wrong time. Modern day nuclear reactors do everything by themselves. Chernobyl is actually very low on the radiation levels these days, only in specific places is it dangerous.
Hang on a second. So at ~12:00 the woman says that she doesn't use tap water for anything anymore, she only uses bottled water. As she says it, she is drawing water through her fridge which almost certainly runs a basic carbon filter which will not meet safety specs for Chromium-6 removal. She also is TOTALLY missing the point that: she can just install a whole-house reverse osmosis system and have cleaner water than almost any municipal water in the country. Is it the perfect solution? No, ideally we could all drink perfectly sparking fresh clean water, but the reality is that both with ground and surface water supplies, private and municipal, there are a variety of issues some "natural" and some industrial. The best you can hope for is a technological remedy to said problem. In this case the solution is at hand: RO.
@VICE_News Do you have any videos on the Toxic Dumping leeching into the water table of Camp LeJeune? I was on base in the early 80’s, with my Dad for roughly 3 years.
c'mon EPA. Neighbors of the plant need to get premium filters installed on their wells at the plants expense. Oh and the little kid was totally adorable.
A lot of uneducation here, when people say solar never has a spil it's true. Because solar panels are the end product. You need to erase a lot of forest's and rivers. when silicium is mined, there are al ot of byproduct like lead and arsenic and... Silicium is also only mined in poor countries that have almost no reglementation on the dumping of these metals in drinking water. So enviromentalist think twice about what you say.
Well i'm not going to rant on about how these big companies are corrupt and don't care about the average person. Because what is the government going to do about it, what are big politicians going to do about it? Nothing absolutely nothing, Why argue on a topic that wont change?
Look up Copperhill, TN. It took way longer than 30 years to restore the water quality. That place began its toxic water problems probably after the civil war, we should not have to devastate our drinking supply to support energy sources.
Who has more reason to not tell the truth, a multimillion dollar company with it's millions invested in coal, or the advocates putting their name on the line to stand up for something they can see is damaging their home?
A good mandate to solve this problem will be that all the people who work at the station will live near the station and consume the presumably safe ground water.
I hate how the fossil fuel industry says, "We need an open discussion. Those groups are lying." And yet when confronted with open discussion, they walk away without a word.
Who cares , as long as I'm making big bucks from Duke Energy stock which has done well recently and I'm far away its all fine with me.This problema is NIMBY.
9:30 - Thanks for the groundwater "lesson" However I dig your concern et al. it depends on the hydraulic heads of the groundwater system because groundwater flows "down" or up, and laterally. If there is a river on the opposite side of the ponds, groundwater can flow in the other direction..... but all else, keep up the work.
I will fight this company if they highter cost for this mess that they made in the first place we never call them to do it. Carbon taxes on every energy company are needed.
I know that we can't stop depending on the former energy source that is polluting the drinking water. This country needs to shift to additional energy sources to cut down on the consumption of coal. 1. Water wheels for energy 2. Solar power 3. Wind If each home had solar, and the city used water or wind energy. If we build these.
In part one, VICE News travels to North Carolina to visit a river that’s been poisoned with arsenic from a nearby Duke Energy site, speak with a resident who has found toxic heavy metals in her drinking water, and question a Duke Energy spokesperson about the power company’s policies. Watch "Showdown in Coal Country" - bit.ly/16LRifW
VICE News Why is the clean water alliance spokesperson only testing for this hexavalent chromium? If they are that close to the coal ash pond, wouldn't the concern be much broader than just that particular chemical contaminant? Are there no other contamination concerns outside of that one that they should and could be testing for? Why would they be making house visits to these rural residents concerning them with this specific contaminant in their water supply when the concern behind that contaminant is (to my knowledge at least) that it is highly carcinogenic when inhaled but far less so when ingested, which is why the levels are still below what the organization who regulates that kind of stuff states to be safe levels? And lastly, where do these residents get all of their bottled water from?
But really tho what if that spill was not in fact on "accident " yall ever heard of the Georgia guidestones? Keep the population under 50000000? There killing us slowly. In the water and in the air. Fuck
Coal isn't the problem, electricity is. An invention widely used for a little less than 100 years that not a whole lot of people can, or want to, imagine living without although humans lived for tens of thousands of years without it. Strange thing.
This is just a thought but, wouldn't it be simple to store this shit in sealed storage containment facilities out in the middle of nowhere, I mean it wouldn't be the best solution but it would at least *contain* the shit.
I mean it's unfortunate but if you want cheap energy you kind of have to accept the fact that things like this are going to happen. I don't necessarily disagree or agree with burning coal but if you don't want crazy high power bills then you kind of just have to accept that it's going to exist.
Why is Alaska on the map? Alaska's energy is produced using natural gas, not coal! there is not a single leach field here - we love our nature and people.
aint there away to clean the water? like boiling or filter or both or something to clean it up so u use it?? where ppl like this go with there lifes?? or is it fact like the lady said ther not enough knowing bout to fact the heath problems that theyll can fix the water problems for both problems? we in 21st century why havnt we figure what to do with the waste from coal??
In developed countries is outrageous that there has not been made real effort to find an alternative to coal as energy. We do not live in the 19th century anymore. I place oil in the same category. For how long will we allow these companies to make private profit by damaging the environment?
Should have brought a bottle of water from someone tap that had polluted water and told her to drink it. That woman is unethical skirting around questions and even gets a bit of an attitude. Corporate lackey
"Coal is still a vital part of our everyday lives. It makes up 39% of our electricity and is projected to hold steady for the next decade". This is wrong. Coal usage and dependency is decreasing. Many other statements in this film are falsely radical. www.whitehouse.gov/climate-change www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/02/obama-rules-coal-climate-change
Hooray Charlotte! I heard the Catawba was one of the top 5 most polluted rivers in the country! I suppose this is why we have such a high incentive to purchase and install solar...
So than if you wanted to internalize this cost i guess duke energy would need to supply everyone in the area a reverse osmosis water filter for the next several hundred years? That probably would make solar more competitive. It is sad to learn about this hidden cost because energy is already expensive. I don't like the thought of it being even more expensive.
3:35 "They newer have a solar spill." Actually PV is not totally clean, 'cus it uses metals to make them. But when those metals are extracted spills of dangerous chemicals. Of course it's way better than coal
Dude... Ash makes up about 12% (obviously this varies by the region from which it was mined) of a pound of coal. It comes out in the form of extremely fine particulate, clumps of bottom ash and it cakes on pressure elements in the boiler. Trying to separate these minuscule amounts of metals out of tiny bits of dust would probably be so cost intensive that no profit could be made off of it. The reason its stored is because it has no useful purpose. We have been burning coal for years, if this was a possible avenue it would have been looked at already.
leerman22 They probably could but with wet bottom ash removal its easier for them to pump it to a pit and leave it there because its removed from the bottom of the boiler hydraulically or by a chain grate submerged under water. That dosnt mean its the right thing, thats just what they do right now.
Fly ash ponds are no jokes, just like a swamp hard to tell what's ground and what's not. Full dozers get sucked in and people too never to be retrieved. They just found a guy in my state two weeks ago, he's been under for a year.....
Sounds like coal ash when disolved in water it releases those heavy metals. Sounds like coal ash needs to be burried under ground in dry facilities in concrete.
Just change the coal plants to Nuclear power plants. New nuclear power technology is so many times safer and environmentally friendly than coal, oil and old nuclear plants. Tough we would probably already have got rid of all these thing if it were not for huge business in coal industry and its influence to politics.
Then you have the nuclear waste to dispose of and of course, the possibility of a nuclear catastrophe. I'm not sure what's better or worse at this point.
TheTruthHurts732
the amount of waste created is less then that of coal
Oh yes nuclear is so safe. Ever heard of Chernobyl you loon?
Chernobyl happened because there was a serious issue with staff rotation.
TheTruthHurts732 in the entire history of nuclear power there have only been 4 reactors that have failed. 4 reactor failures in 50+ yrs vs Five oil spills in the US in just the last year & at least 90 spills since 2000? Hope that truth didn't hurt too bad...
That Duke PR lady was cunning in that interview. Never fully answered the question, but was treated as so
Yea, I loved the part where she talked about being able to touch it, and how harmless it is to your skin. As if THAT were the issue. I'd like to see her drink some of the contaminated water from the NC resident's home in the video.
Obvious strawman is obvious. No one was arguing that no pollution at all is desirable or even attainable but she seemed to be arguing against some imaginary person who was saying this.
I can understand why people dislike her. Her arguments where very weak at best, but she is doing her job, how sucky a job it may be.
Azivegu I personally don't feel sorry for her. And that argument of "just doing his or her job" is really a lame excuse to not hold themselves accountable for their immoral actions.
ThoughtfulThug I never understood the "hes just doing his job" thing. Hitmen are just doing their jobs when they murder people. Imagine if a jury acquitted a hitman because "he was just doing his job".
The last time Vice posted a video discussing coal's role in the US, the comment section was filled with people claiming that they were exaggerating the threat coal poses. Where are they now?
I work with my father who has a contract to haul coal ash to a dump site where there are hills of coal ash. I knew it was bad but not this bad, I have loaded over a 100 trucks full of ash. Almost every time the coal ash is super dry and dusty which then fills the cab of the truck in turn im breathing in. My father has been doing this for over a decade and now want him to watch this to see the impact it really has on him.
Read your comment now... Do you have result of any test done Jacob ? Cheers!
Isn't it amazing something like this never gets national attention on every major network!!??
Duke Energy also runs the Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant near Raleigh, NC. This power plant has poor safety as well, vessel reactor walls have been cracking, they've even had fires! They have even refurbished parts from the Three Mile Island plant!! Shearon Harris has been shut down several times in the last few years alone. I live just 30 miles from this plant, and it scares me.
You should move away from that area dont ya think?
Joseph Griveas There are still many many more things I love about this area. Moving is more of a last resort.
You mean that thing near lake Jordan? I heard it was built on a fault line too.
Preston Trotter It's on Shearon Harris lake. Just south of lake jordan
I live in morrisville . pretty much in the middle of lake Jordan and the power plant
THANK YOU for covering this topic! North Carolina is home to so many aware and conscious souls, but have been under the thumb of twisted decision-making (James Arthur Pope is an individual you may want to look into.) Far too beautiful a state to be caught in a toxic tide!
My friends parents live less than a mile from that plant and when I went there a few years ago to visit, they talked about how the ash winds up on the railings, windows, etc.
I hate to be a dick but I betcha that plant was there before they moved in. this is kinda like people moving next to train tracks and complaining about the horn noise.
I’m from Yadkin county North Carolina approximately an hour and 5 minutes away from this river. This is the first I have heard of this spill, whatever is going on they made sure to keep a lid on things.
We use coal ash also known as fly ash in concrete all of the time. This has been a great use of the byproduct for years.
over here in Germany we do the same, about 97% percent of coal ash are recycled (the three percent is just stored temporarily and then also being used.
www.powerengineeringint.com/2015/03/18/managing-coal-ash/
The scary thing is that I live in NC by duke energy and never heard about this until I saw this video...
Scary
There is no planet B.
.....or planet 2.0....
Only because we are not trying hard enough I feel if we had a 5 or 10 year deadline all the "important" people would be safely extracted to planet B
I live in BC Canada. In the last five years we have had record amounts of coal sales, both China and the US have been buying it like its going out of style. Something that is not addressed is coal dust, yup, dust that falls off trucks, trains, loaders and very part from harvesting to consumption. This all makes nuclear power seem like a good idea.
This is pretty despicable, but falls right in line with what I expect to hear from the U.S. Did you really ask a child about heavy metals in the water? What knowledge do you think he has of the chemical affects on his body? Why not ask him about the differences about Chromium (III) and Chromium (VI) oxides next?
I grew up in Wyoming where the rivers part of the year ran with heavy metals and I didn't die
Chris Wharton I was just expecting more out of Vice than to have a child there, parroting his mother in a hamfisted attempt at tugging heartstrings.
The point is not that he's an expert on toxic contaminants, but that he is a child who is human and who's been affected by this disaster. It's to say that while everyone is bickering about the politics of energy and the actual toxicity of the substances, there are real people out there suffering as a result of these problems.
Living in North Carolina I can say this report was on point
We can thank the chem trails for years of toxic dumping ... filter your water and use hydroponic veg growing methods and no more fish from the oceans until Mother Nature cleans her nest .. but folks we have to stop all these assaults on our earth .. especially CERN ..!
Coal ash is used with salt on streets and sidewalks in Pennsylvania. My Dad bought a coal/wood stove in the 80's. Pennsylvania has a big coal mining industry.
The solution? Thorium. Thorium is so cheap and easy to keep safe. Its one of the most common minerals found in our dirt and has almost no waste to speak of.
The Dan River runs through my city, we get all of our water directly from the river. In fact the name of the city, Danville, was named after the river. After the spill, and continuously today, Duke Energy, the EPA, and the local water treatment plant have all said that the water has been safe to drink. I've been skeptical, but I haven't noticed or heard of anything harmful that has come of this, well to the human population that is.
It is not the hexavalent chromium that causes these cancer rate growths (4.5 ppb is still an extremely low content). It is arsenic, thorium, uranium, thallium, nickel, and cadmium which pose the major threat. Another threat is mercury, lead and selenium which may lead to brain & nervous system damage (first 2), and to issues like blindness (Se).
Fuck yeah my state Rhode Island doesn't use coal
You are looking to far
then your screwed if your nuclear reactor has a total meltdown because just about everyone within fallout range will die look at Chyrnoble and how bad that was and how bad that still is
***** very cheap electric bill
***** Chernobyl can not happen again. It's technologically impossible with current nuclear technology. Chernobyl happened because of an inexperienced engineer doing the wrong things at the wrong time. Modern day nuclear reactors do everything by themselves. Chernobyl is actually very low on the radiation levels these days, only in specific places is it dangerous.
try telling that to the survivors of chyrnobol
If its so clean make the woman from the power company drink a cup from the seepage /leak sites...
Hang on a second. So at ~12:00 the woman says that she doesn't use tap water for anything anymore, she only uses bottled water. As she says it, she is drawing water through her fridge which almost certainly runs a basic carbon filter which will not meet safety specs for Chromium-6 removal. She also is TOTALLY missing the point that: she can just install a whole-house reverse osmosis system and have cleaner water than almost any municipal water in the country. Is it the perfect solution? No, ideally we could all drink perfectly sparking fresh clean water, but the reality is that both with ground and surface water supplies, private and municipal, there are a variety of issues some "natural" and some industrial. The best you can hope for is a technological remedy to said problem. In this case the solution is at hand: RO.
wat? she didnt use the fridge water, lay off the crack bro.
***** good catch. Water dispenser not fridge. Point about the reverse osmosis system still stands though.
Our government says the safe limit is 100 ppb, and Riverkeeper says it needs to be less than 0.02 ppb to be safe?
this stuff makes nuclear waste look like a walk in the park.
@VICE_News Do you have any videos on the Toxic Dumping leeching into the water table of Camp LeJeune?
I was on base in the early 80’s, with my Dad for roughly 3 years.
c'mon EPA. Neighbors of the plant need to get premium filters installed on their wells at the plants expense. Oh and the little kid was totally adorable.
A lot of uneducation here, when people say solar never has a spil it's true. Because solar panels are the end product. You need to erase a lot of forest's and rivers. when silicium is mined, there are al ot of byproduct like lead and arsenic and... Silicium is also only mined in poor countries that have almost no reglementation on the dumping of these metals in drinking water. So enviromentalist think twice about what you say.
omg this is stupid my mama grew up burning coal for heat. My wife's mama's gets her water from under a surface coal mine spring. one is 85 one is 83
why not put it back in the empty mines that are everywhere, just a thought since they are below the water tables....
Well i'm not going to rant on about how these big companies are corrupt and don't care about the average person. Because what is the government going to do about it, what are big politicians going to do about it? Nothing absolutely nothing, Why argue on a topic that wont change?
They should sue. What an evil company.
Look up Copperhill, TN. It took way longer than 30 years to restore the water quality. That place began its toxic water problems probably after the civil war, we should not have to devastate our drinking supply to support energy sources.
That spill did mess up the Dan River.
Oh, so as long as they have a permission slip from the government its OK to pour arsenic into a river?
For anyone wondering im pretty sure this is in salisbury nc its right out side charlotte
Shocking. Poor people.
That life vest is useless on her because it isn't put on correctly.
Id bone the shit out of her
Where's Erin Brockovich?
Who has more reason to not tell the truth, a multimillion dollar company with it's millions invested in coal, or the advocates putting their name on the line to stand up for something they can see is damaging their home?
A good mandate to solve this problem will be that all the people who work at the station will live near the station and consume the presumably safe ground water.
Thanks for putting this out there Vice. You guys do really good work.
I hate how the fossil fuel industry says, "We need an open discussion. Those groups are lying." And yet when confronted with open discussion, they walk away without a word.
11:25 - fixed a jug of Coal-Aid....
There's no other way to do it baby
The problem is the spot they chose to store all those chemicals close by rivers it is obvious if any storms appears the water was at risk.
vice says recents events not even saying when it was.
2:00
Who cares , as long as I'm making big bucks from Duke Energy stock which has done well recently and I'm far away its all fine with me.This problema is NIMBY.
Such an important topic, that's why we can't spare any more than a 16 min video.
Two years later, NC finally fines Duke for coal ash spill on Dan River.
Damn so close to home
If people are being poisoned why is this not in the court system? Why are there no lawsuits?
9:30 - Thanks for the groundwater "lesson" However I dig your concern et al. it depends on the hydraulic heads of the groundwater system because groundwater flows "down" or up, and laterally. If there is a river on the opposite side of the ponds, groundwater can flow in the other direction..... but all else, keep up the work.
I will fight this company if they highter cost for this mess that they made in the first place we never call them to do it. Carbon taxes on every energy company are needed.
also, bad idea if want to live near power plants ...
I know that we can't stop depending on the former energy source that is polluting the drinking water. This country needs to shift to additional energy sources to cut down on the consumption of coal.
1. Water wheels for energy
2. Solar power
3. Wind
If each home had solar, and the city used water or wind energy. If we build these.
What's the point anymore? The world will die along with everything else, and it's our fault. We cannot stop it it's over....
It's time to use a new form of energy.
They never have solar spills... lmfao
In part one, VICE News travels to North Carolina to visit a river that’s been poisoned with arsenic from a nearby Duke Energy site, speak with a resident who has found toxic heavy metals in her drinking water, and question a Duke Energy spokesperson about the power company’s policies.
Watch "Showdown in Coal Country" - bit.ly/16LRifW
That employee is a real bitch
VICE News Why is the clean water alliance spokesperson only testing for this hexavalent chromium? If they are that close to the coal ash pond, wouldn't the concern be much broader than just that particular chemical contaminant? Are there no other contamination concerns outside of that one that they should and could be testing for? Why would they be making house visits to these rural residents concerning them with this specific contaminant in their water supply when the concern behind that contaminant is (to my knowledge at least) that it is highly carcinogenic when inhaled but far less so when ingested, which is why the levels are still below what the organization who regulates that kind of stuff states to be safe levels? And lastly, where do these residents get all of their bottled water from?
and these are the people that have a Nuclear power plant near my house.
VICE News if you can give me that reporters number, that'll be great.
But really tho what if that spill was not in fact on "accident " yall ever heard of the Georgia guidestones? Keep the population under 50000000? There killing us slowly. In the water and in the air. Fuck
want to see what a soulless corporate spokesman looks like? Skip to 8 minutes in.
I'm in love with the reporter. Like seriously.
Coal isn't the problem, electricity is. An invention widely used for a little less than 100 years that not a whole lot of people can, or want to, imagine living without although humans lived for tens of thousands of years without it. Strange thing.
You never have a solar spill
Just like the sun doesn't always shine and the wind doesn't always blow
This is just a thought but, wouldn't it be simple to store this shit in sealed storage containment facilities out in the middle of nowhere, I mean it wouldn't be the best solution but it would at least *contain* the shit.
Exactly why projects like the XL pipeline need to be seriously reconsidered
this is the reason American test scores are so low...
I mean it's unfortunate but if you want cheap energy you kind of have to accept the fact that things like this are going to happen. I don't necessarily disagree or agree with burning coal but if you don't want crazy high power bills then you kind of just have to accept that it's going to exist.
Arsenic is not a heavy metal. It is a semi-metal.
We are all doomed.... technology has made life easier but made the human existence worse.....
Why is Alaska on the map? Alaska's energy is produced using natural gas, not coal! there is not a single leach field here - we love our nature and people.
my question is, how does it just, spill. like was it an accident?
aint there away to clean the water? like boiling or filter or both or something to clean it up so u use it?? where ppl like this go with there lifes?? or is it fact like the lady said ther not enough knowing bout to fact the heath problems that theyll can fix the water problems for both problems? we in 21st century why havnt we figure what to do with the waste from coal??
why are people hating on the young minds who are able to get jobs at #Vice
So you can handle it, wash it off your hands. How bout You drink it then.
@5:23 Holy Hell the lady is a genius comparing it to coffee!
In developed countries is outrageous that there has not been made real effort to find an alternative to coal as energy. We do not live in the 19th century anymore. I place oil in the same category. For how long will we allow these companies to make private profit by damaging the environment?
Damn shame we arent building dozens of nuclear power plants to replace and expand the capacity of what coal provides.
I live in North Carolina
This again is just a very large case that will bury everyone in paper work and never be resolved
Hey Vice, are you guys going to talk about the CSX train crash in West Virginia?
Have all the people who don't think coal ash is harmful move into their own community, then store the coal ash there. Problem solved.
Should have brought a bottle of water from someone tap that had polluted water and told her to drink it. That woman is unethical skirting around questions and even gets a bit of an attitude. Corporate lackey
"Coal is still a vital part of our everyday lives. It makes up 39% of our electricity and is projected to hold steady for the next decade". This is wrong. Coal usage and dependency is decreasing. Many other statements in this film are falsely radical.
www.whitehouse.gov/climate-change
www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/02/obama-rules-coal-climate-change
Basic home water filters would easily remove the large particles of hexavalent chromium.
Hexavalent chromium is also toxic to welders, who only in recent years (and on very few jobsites) have begun to wear respirators.
Am I the only one who cringed when she broke the spaghetti in half before putting it in the pot? I know, I know -- off topic -- but still.
I would like to watch that duke energy spokesperson drink the water that those families can't.
Solar / Windmills anyone 🤷🏽♀️
Hooray Charlotte! I heard the Catawba was one of the top 5 most polluted rivers in the country!
I suppose this is why we have such a high incentive to purchase and install solar...
the way I can see to prevent leaks is to build cement holding dams
So than if you wanted to internalize this cost i guess duke energy would need to supply everyone in the area a reverse osmosis water filter for the next several hundred years? That probably would make solar more competitive. It is sad to learn about this hidden cost because energy is already expensive. I don't like the thought of it being even more expensive.
Plastic bottled water is juts as bad though.
What??! Wtf are u talking about?! Due to the empty bottles??
Give me a solar or wind technology that can be economically viable WITHOUT SUBSIDIES and I will be all for it.
ymom11 Oil is subsidized by the US government.
3:35 "They newer have a solar spill." Actually PV is not totally clean, 'cus it uses metals to make them. But when those metals are extracted spills of dangerous chemicals. Of course it's way better than coal
This is how the state manages their water and land resources.
Couldn't they separate the ores in the coal ash and use it for metal bars?
Dude... Ash makes up about 12% (obviously this varies by the region from which it was mined) of a pound of coal. It comes out in the form of extremely fine particulate, clumps of bottom ash and it cakes on pressure elements in the boiler. Trying to separate these minuscule amounts of metals out of tiny bits of dust would probably be so cost intensive that no profit could be made off of it. The reason its stored is because it has no useful purpose. We have been burning coal for years, if this was a possible avenue it would have been looked at already.
Can't they just at least throw it back into an empty section of the coal mine instead? Coal is shipped in by train, they can ship ash out by train.
leerman22 They probably could but with wet bottom ash removal its easier for them to pump it to a pit and leave it there because its removed from the bottom of the boiler hydraulically or by a chain grate submerged under water. That dosnt mean its the right thing, thats just what they do right now.
rather stay with Nuclear power and if it controled right way. thour nuclear not safe if it leak out.
Poison isn't bad for you.
Fly ash ponds are no jokes, just like a swamp hard to tell what's ground and what's not. Full dozers get sucked in and people too never to be retrieved. They just found a guy in my state two weeks ago, he's been under for a year.....
Well playing with people's health is not right either ,is it.
Sounds like coal ash when disolved in water it releases those heavy metals. Sounds like coal ash needs to be burried under ground in dry facilities in concrete.