coal miner

Over the years, mounting evidence has accumulated against coal. Research has shown the severe, and often unaccounted for, human health impacts from coal emissions on miners, workers and local communities. Health risks from coal include lung cancer, bronchitis, heart disease and other health conditions. In the US, 50,000 deaths each year have been attributed to air pollution from coal-fired power generation. Globally, air pollution from coal combustion is accountable for more than 200,000 deaths per year.  Over the history of environmental epidemiology there has generally been a poor response by industry to the well-described harmful health effects of exposure – not just coal, but asbestos, gold mining and other dusty environments. This amounts to an appalling lack of care for workers and their families. We are calling on this to change for Australian coal exposure.

In Australia, the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering estimated that the ill-effects of coal costs the country $2.6 billion annually. In Europe, the health cost of air pollution from coal-fired power stations is €42.8 billion a year, and more than 4 million lost working days each year, due mainly to respiratory and cardiac disease. US economists have estimated the health impacts of coal-fired power stations in the US to be between one and six times its value added. Thus the hidden costs of coal are already considerable, but when coal mine fires occur these costs are clear for all to see.

Coal mine fires release heavy metal and organic compounds, posing health risks for surrounding populations, such as respiratory and heart disease, cancers and other health conditions. The communities around the Hazlewood mine experienced a significant and prolonged coal fire earlier this year. Many people reported respiratory concerns and the government eventually recommended that residents of Morwell and other communities leave their homes. The Hazlewood coal mine inquiry recommendations are due to be released and this will no doubt serve a timely reminder of the human health risks of coal on communities, families and individuals, especially children and young people who tend to be more vulnerable to such environmental exposures.

In May 2010, the New South Wales government released a report on child health, which showed that nearly 40 per cent of nine-to-15-year-olds in the Hunter Valley and the New England region had suffered at some stage from asthma. That is significantly above the national average of 10 per cent. Other areas that have expressed concerns are the Hunter Valley and Lithgow in the Blue Mountains, which has a coalmine, a newly extended coal-fired power station and an asthma rate 80 per cent higher than the New South Wales average.

Despite global momentum shifting away from highly polluting coal, Australia remains heavily reliant on ageing and inefficient coal-fired power. And, alarmingly, there is no consistent air, water, soil quality monitoring at and around every coal mine and power station in Australia.

The real cost of electricity from coal on health, the environment and future generations must be considered. And with mounting scientific evidence and positive developments by the global powers – it is time for coal’s human health risks to be embedded in all energy and resources policy and investment decisions in Australia. The nation should be switching to cleaner, healthier energy options, such as wind and solar power. Weakening or scrapping the Renewable Energy Target, in favour of dirty coal is not the way forward.

Today, we released a joint statement urgently calling for consistent air, water and soil quality monitoring at and around every coal mine and power station in Australia. This monitoring should be paid for by the coal industry and overseen by an independent authority. And adequate funding should be allocated for research to evaluate the health, social and environmental impacts of coal in these coal mining communities, and more broadly, across Australia.

Ultimately, why should Australia ask its workers and communities near coal mines and power plants to pay for our electricity with their health?

Tim Flannery is the Chief Councillor of the Climate Council of Australia.

Fiona Stanley is a Distinguished Research Professor, School of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Western Australia, and a Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Melbourne.

Both authors are recipients of The Australian of the Year award.