A study just published this month attempted to quantify the costs that the coal industry and utility companies don’t have to pay when they use coal for electricity, such as the cost of destroying streams and the cost of treating illnesses that result from exposure to coal-burning pollution.  The study included some of the external costs of mountaintop removal mining.

Study authors conclude that the estimated costs of using coal for electricity add up to $345.3 billion, adding close to 17.8¢/kWh of electricity generated from coal.

They acknowledged that this is an underestimate, as it is impossible to monetize all the environmental and societal costs of coal.

Among other things, study authors recommended a transition to cleaner energy sources, consideration of the true costs of all electricity fuels prices when determining energy policy, and an immediate end to mountaintop removal coal mining and reclamation of those lands and waterways, where possible.

The study, entitled “Full cost accounting for the life cycle of coal,” was authored by Dr. Paul Epstein of Harvard University and co-authored by KFTC member Beverly May.  It was published in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences this month and is available online here.