groundwater contamination

When it comes to clean water, there's no such thing as a safe short cut:

In March, the N.C. Division of Water Quality (DWQ) filed a lawsuit over coal ash pollution seeping from ponds at a power plant in Asheville, N.C. owned by Duke Energy's Progress subsidiary. This week, DWQ amended that suit to address similar issues at Duke Energy's Riverbend plant on Mountain Island Lake, which provides drinking water for over 750,000 people in the Charlotte area.

While it might be a truism to say, "We shouldn't be worrying about coal waste because we shouldn't be burning coal anymore", the fact is, we are, and will continue to do so to some degree for many years to come. That being said, coal proponents love to talk about how cheap it is to burn coal. But you know what? Costs are accrued during the whole cycle, and that includes disposal of the toxic wastes. Skimping on that not only creates a false cost formula, it can change the chemical formula of our water, too:

Robbing Peter to pay Paul:

Companies such as Exxon Mobil and Sempra Energy are seeking federal permits for more than 20 export projects that could handle as much as 29 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day. If approved, the resulting export boom could lead to further increases in hydraulic fracturing, a drilling technique also known as fracking. It has allowed companies to gain access to huge stores of natural gas underneath states from Colorado to New York, but raised widespread concerns about alleged groundwater contamination and even earthquakes.

Looking beyond the perils of radically increasing fracking, this issue could have a huge impact in several other areas, not the least of which is our struggling manufacturing sector. The impetus is (of course) the fossil fuel industry being frustrated that domestic prices have plummeted thanks to their zest for poking holes in the ground. And from what I can see, they're likely the only ones to (net) profit from these desired exports. But they've got drill-baby-drill Republicans and revenue-hungry Democrats both lining up to give a thumb's-up, so this thing is probably happening. Get ready.