Effects of Coal Burning on Air:

	Soot: Particle pollution, also known as soot, can be released directly from smokestacks or indirectly through other pollutants that react in the air to form tiny particles. Soot is particularly dangerous because it can be inhaled deep into the lungs where the smallest of particles cross directly into the blood stream just like oxygen. Soot can trigger heart attacks and strokes, worsen asthma, cause irregular heartbeat, and lead to premature death.
	Smog: Coal-fired power plants are the second largest source of nitrogen oxides (NOx) in the nation, earning them a reputation as a major contributor to smog. Smog, or ground level ozone, causes a wide range of symptoms like shortness of breath, increased risk of asthma attacks, permanent lung damage, and premature death. Scientists have compared exposure to smog to getting a sunburn in the lungs.
	Global warming: Even though coal-fired power plants generate just about half of our nation's electricity, they account for over 80 percent of the carbon dioxide pollution from electricity production in the U.S. In fact, coal-fired power plants have the highest output rate of carbon dioxide (or carbon intensity) per unit of electricity among all fossil fuels.

Effects of Coal Burning on Land:

Acid rain: Acid rain occurs when power plant emissions like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides react with water and oxygen in the air to form acidic compounds that fall to the ground. Once in the environment, the acidic compounds cause different kinds of environmental damage, including damage to trees, loss of aquatic life, and detrimental changes to the soil.

Effects of Coal Burning on Water:

Mercury: Coal-fired power plants are one of the largest sources of man-made mercury pollution in the U.S. After mercury is released in the exhaust, it enters the air and then rains down into our streams, lakes, and other waters where it poisons the fish and seafood that eventually make their way to our dinner tables. Mercury accumulates in fish and the animals and people who eat them, causing brain damage, mental retardation, and other developmental problems in unborn children and infants.

Water withdrawals: Coal-fired power plants require huge amounts of water for cooling and other purposes. An average 500 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant uses more than 25 gallons of water for each kilowatt hour produced, which translates to 300 million gallons of water per day or 12 million gallons of water per hour. In the U.S., electric power plants account for 48 percent of total water withdrawals every year-an astounding 195 billion gallons of water every day.

Effects of Coal Burning on People:

Air Pollution and Communities of Color: Many scientific studies have shown that communities of color are disproportionately exposed to harmful air pollution, including pollution from coal-fired power plants. African-Americans are more likely to live within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant, have one of the highest rates of asthma among any cultural group, and are three times as likely as whites to die from asthma.

Mercury: Mercury exposure is directly linked to eating contaminated fish, and people who eat more fish have more mercury in their blood. The mercury problem in the U.S. is so widespread that every year one in six women of childbearing age has mercury levels in her blood high enough to put her baby at risk. Moreover, in 2004, forty-seven U.S. states and territories had mercury fish consumption advisories for at least some of their waters.