These articles, submitted by the In-Depth Reporting class at ETSU, are part of a six-part environmental series. Check out Monday’s issue for more green stories.
As the temperature drops and winter makes its bitter entrance in Johnson City, thermostats are turned up to keep the ETSU community warm. To do this within a reasonable budget, ETSU has to burn coal. And according to Associate Vice President of Facilities Bill Rasnick, this isn’t going to change unless ETSU students are willing to pay more money for natural gas.

“The money’s not going to come from the state, so it would have to come from the students,” Rasnick said in an interview Nov. 19. “If it’s a student issue and the students are willing to pay that difference, then we’ll look at it. But that’s really where we are, the money would have to come from somewhere.”

How much would students have to pay? It’s hard to be certain, since the cost of natural gas is constantly in flux. But according to Rasnick, students would probably have to pay about $100 extra each year on top of their tuition.

“If it comes to the $100 per student, the Initiative for Clean Energy would be willing to invest much time and energy into educating the student body on what exactly the purpose of not burning coal is,” said ICE president Lance Lewis. “Lots of people have no clue why the world needs to turn away from coal, so sparking awareness among students as to how destructive coal is from the mine site to the coal plant to the air, is important.”

ICE, founded in the spring of 2006, is a student group at ETSU that support campus sustainability measures such as the Yellow Bike Program and recycling.

“At this time, coal is way cheaper in terms of money,” Lewis said. “But it’s not necessarily cheap for those who live in the coal fields of West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky.”

Surface mining, which often occurs in those states, is one reason why many are steering away from using coal. This form of mining, also known as mountaintop removal mining, literally removes mountains in an attempt to extract the largest amount of coal possible.

“Coal in the ground is a wonderful thing. It filters our water supply, taking harsh metals and chemicals out of the water passing through coal seams,” Lewis said. “Once it is removed, it has to be cleaned before transportation, and that ‘dishwater’ is stashed in old mines and in above-ground dams, which both risk this entire region’s water supply.”

Larry Gibson, who came to ETSU Nov. 5 to lecture on the topic, has seen first-hand the effects of mountaintop removal mining. His family has been living on or near Kayford Mountain in West Virginia, now a surface mining site, since the late 1700s. Gibson’s home, decked out in solar panels, sits on a 50-acre island in the middle of a moonscape left behind by surface miners in pursuit of coal. The coal companies have offered him money for his land, but he

isn’t moving.

“Years ago, before you were even born, we created a monster

in this country,” said Gibson, pointing toward the coal stacks behind the crowd

of about 35 students during a rally for renewable energy on Nov. 5. “In a commercial power plant, it takes about a minute and a half to burn a ton of coal. The monster we created in this country is about profit.”

According to Rasnick, ETSU currently spends around $3.3 million for energy, the bulk of which is derived from coal. Switching to natural gas in the winter could add another $1.5 million to that total, leaving the university with no other choice but to burn coal.

Besides using more natural gas, ETSU is looking into other sources of energy, particularly renewable sources like solar power.

“The coal boilers that we have were manufactured and installed back in the ’50s,” Rasnick said. “They’re toward the end of their economic life anyway. I think when you look out 10 or 15 years, we will likely not be burning coal any longer.”

One energy source the university is looking into is solar hot water heaters. These solar tanks would not be able to heat enough water for hot showers, but would reduce the amount of coal and natural gas that it currently takes to run the hot water boilers.

“When I first started here, we were burning 7,000-8,000 tons of coal,” said Rasnick. This number is now around 5,000 tons, but could be lowered even more with the introduction of solar hot water heating.

Since the introduction of the green fee last April, ETSU collected around $140,000 to go toward sustainability projects. If it isn’t all used, this money can roll over from year to year, something Rasnick says will probably have to happen if ETSU is going to be able to afford solar energy.

“We’re committed to it-we’re committed to sustainable energy-but we can only move so quickly based on the resources that we have,” said Rasnick.

Mountaintop removal isn’t the only reason why eco-minded students, like Lewis, are concerned. According to a report released last month by the Physicians for Social Responsibility, people who use coal should be concerned about their health as well.

The report states that some air pollutants may be linked to certain cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, as well as some diseases relating to the nervous system. Furthermore, the report links the burning of coal to global warming.

“With very high carbon dioxide emissions due to combustion, and significant methane emissions from mining activities, coal is a major contributor to the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,” the report says. “These gases allow solar energy to reach the planet’s surface but delay that energy’s escape into space, effectively trapping heat in the lower atmosphere.”

According to the report, coal-fired power plants are responsible for one-third of the United States’ carbon dioxide emissions because coal contains higher carbon content than other fossil fuels such as natural gas.

“Coal power is one of the biggest contributors to climate change,” said Lewis. “Putting that whole debate aside, this is everyone’s air, and burning coal for our energy needs certainly isn’t helping us breathe easier.

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