Botkin Environmental Science Earth as Living Planet 8th txtbk

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314 CHAPTER 15 Fossil Fuels and the Environment Many Alaskans want the drilling to proceed and point out that oil drilling for 30 years on the North Slope of Alaska (Prudhoe Bay) has not harmed animals or the environment. Arguments against Drilling in the ANWR Advances in technology are irrelevant to the question of whether or not the ANWR should be drilled. Some wilderness should remain wilderness! Drilling will forever change the pristine environment of the North Slope. Even with the best technology, oil exploration and development will impact the ANWR. Intensive activity, even in winter on roads constructed of ice, will probably disrupt wildlife. Ice roads are constructed from water from the tundra ponds. To build a road 1 km (0.63 mi) long requires about 3,640 m 3 (1 million gallons) of water. Heavy vehicles used in exploration permanently scar the ground—even if the ground is frozen hard when the vehicles travel across the open tundra. Accidents may occur in even the best facilities. Oil development is inherently damaging because it involves a massive industrial complex of people, vehicles, equipment, pipelines, and support facilities. Our decision about drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge will reflect both science and values at a basic level. New technology will lessen the environmental impact of oil drilling. How we value the need for energy from oil compared with how we value preservation of a pristine wilderness area will determine our action: to drill or not to drill. The debate is not over yet. The oil crisis of 2008 that drove the price of gasoline to nearly $5 per gallon placed ANWR oil development in the spotlight again. Air pollution is perhaps the most familiar and serious environmental impact of burning oil. Combustion of gasoline in automobiles produces pollutants that contribute to urban smog. (The adverse effects of smog on vegetation and human health are well documented and are discussed in detail in Chapter 21.) 15.3 Coal Partially decomposed vegetation, when buried in a sedimentary environment, may be slowly transformed into the solid, brittle, carbonaceous rock we call coal. This process is shown in Figure 15.10. Coal is by far the world’s most abundant fossil fuel, with a total recoverable resource of about 825 billion metric tons (Figure 15.11). The annual world consumption of coal is about 7 billion metric tons, sufficient for about 120 years at the current rate of use. 7 There are about 18,500 coal mines in the United States with combined reserves of 262 billion tons and 2008 production of 1.2 billion tons. At present rates of mining, U.S. reserves will last nearly 250 years. 7, 17 If, however, consumption of coal increases in the coming decades, the resource will not last nearly as long. 18 Coal is classified, depending on its energy and sulfur content, as anthracite, bituminous, subbituminous, or lignite (see Table 15.2). The energy content is greatest in anthracite coal and lowest in lignite coal. The distribution of coal in the contiguous United States is shown in Figure 15.12. The sulfur content of coal is important because low-sulfur coal emits less sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) and is therefore more desirable as a fuel for power plants. Most low-sulfur coal in the United States is the relatively lowgrade, low-energy lignite and subbituminous coal found west of the Mississippi River. Power plants on the East Peat Coal swamps form. Buried peat Rise in sea level buries swamps in sediment. Coal (thickness exaggerated) FIGURE 15.10 Processes by which buried plant debris (peat) is transformed into coal. Compression of peat forms coal.
15.3 Coal 315 Europe and Eurasia 272 North America 246 S. & Cent. America 15 Africa 32 Middle East 1.4 Asia Pacific 259 FIGURE 15.11 World coal reserves (billions of tons) in 2008. (Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2009.B.P. p.l.c.). Canada Northern Great Plains region Pacific Ocean Coos Bay field Green River basin Uinta basin Black Mesa field Bighorn basin San Juan basin Raton Mesa field Powder River basin Denver basin Western Interior basin Illinois basin Appalachian basin Gulf Coast lignite Atlantic Ocean Pennsylvania anthracite Mexico Gulf of Mexico Anthracite and semianthracite Low-volatile bituminous coal Medium- and high-volatile bituminous coal Subbituminous coal FIGURE 15.12 Coal areas of the contiguous United States. This is a highly generalized map, and numerous relatively small occurrences of coal are not shown. (Source: S. Garbini and S.P. Schweinfurth, U.S. Geological Survey Circular 979, 1986.) Lignite Coast treat the high-sulfur coal mined in their own region to lower its sulfur content before, during, or after combustion and, thus, avoid excessive air pollution. Although it is expensive, treating coal to reduce pollution may be more economical than transporting low-sulfur coal from the western states.
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ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE Earth as a Li
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VICE PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE PUBLIS
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About the Authors Daniel B. Botkin
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Preface vii Themes Our book is base
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Preface ix Updated Critical Thinkin
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Acknowledgments Reviewers of This E
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Acknowledgments xiii Karen Swanson,
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Contents Chapter 1 Key Themes in En
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xviii Contents Summary 125 Reexamin
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xx Contents Chapter 13 Wildlife, Fi
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xxii Contents CRITICAL THINKING ISS
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xxiv Contents Availability and Use
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2 CHAPTER 1 Key Themes in Environme
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10 CHAPTER 1 Key Themes in Environm
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over 4 million in 1950. In 1999 Tok
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CHAPTER 2 Science as a Way of Knowi
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24 CHAPTER 2 Science as a Way of Kn
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42 CHAPTER 3 The Big Picture: Syste
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60 CHAPTER 4 The Human Population a
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CHAPTER 5 Ecosystems: Concepts and
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82 CHAPTER 5 Ecosystems: Concepts a
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100 CHAPTER 5 Ecosystems: Concepts
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102 CHAPTER 5 Ecosystems: Concepts
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CHAPTER 6 The Biogeochemical Cycles
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106 CHAPTER 6 The Biogeochemical Cy
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128 CHAPTER 7 Dollars and Environme
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144 CHAPTER 8 Biological Diversity
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170 CHAPTER 9 Ecological Restoratio
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186 CHAPTER 10 Environmental Health
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212 CHAPTER 11 Agriculture, Aquacul
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236 CHAPTER 12 Landscapes: Forests,
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258 CHAPTER 13 Wildlife, Fisheries,
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364 CHAPTER 17 Nuclear Energy and t
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366 CHAPTER 17 Nuclear Energy and t
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CHAPTER 18 Water Supply, Use, and M
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370 CHAPTER 18 Water Supply, Use, a
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CHAPTER 19 Water Pollution and Trea
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400 CHAPTER 19 Water Pollution and
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CHAPTER 20 The Atmosphere, Climate,
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430 CHAPTER 20 The Atmosphere, Clim
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462 CHAPTER 21 Air Pollution CASE S
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464 CHAPTER 21 Air Pollution
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466 CHAPTER 21 Air Pollution Table
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470 CHAPTER 21 Air Pollution Air po
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472 CHAPTER 21 Air Pollution Mercur
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474 CHAPTER 21 Air Pollution (a) FI
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478 CHAPTER 21 Air Pollution The ga
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490 CHAPTER 21 Air Pollution chimn
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494 CHAPTER 21 Air Pollution SUMMAR
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496 CHAPTER 21 Air Pollution STUDY
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498 CHAPTER 22 Urban Environments C
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500 CHAPTER 22 Urban Environments I
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502 CHAPTER 22 Urban Environments o
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504 CHAPTER 22 Urban Environments K
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506 CHAPTER 22 Urban Environments 2
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508 CHAPTER 22 Urban Environments A
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510 CHAPTER 22 Urban Environments F
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512 CHAPTER 22 Urban Environments F
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518 CHAPTER 22 Urban Environments S
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520 CHAPTER 23 Materials Management
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552 CHAPTER 24 Our Environmental Fu
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Appendix A Special Feature: Electro
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Appendix A-3 VOLUME in 3 ft 3 yd 3
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Appendix A-5 Basic Chemistry
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Photo Credits CHAPTER 1 Ch Op 1: Im
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Glossary Abortion rate The estimate
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Glossary G-3 deposition of crustal
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Glossary G-5 high and the growth ra
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Glossary G-7 environmental impacts
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Glossary G-9 per unit time and some
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Glossary G-11 cooler than it is tod
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Glossary G-13 Nonpoint sources Poll
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Glossary G-15 Positive feedback A t
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Glossary G-17 Shelterwood cutting A
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Glossary G-19 Time series The set o
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Index Entries followed by an f may
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INDEX I-3 Sweetwater Marsh National
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INDEX I-5 dune succession, 96, 96f
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INDEX I-7 Colorado River, 114, 115f
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INDEX I-9 Lovelock, James, 10, 108
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INDEX I-11 Pelagic ecosystem, 85, 8
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INDEX I-13 Static systems, 44, 44f
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INDEX I-15 Watts, 291, 292t Weather
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N-2 NOTES 7. Schmidt, W.E. 1991 (Se
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N-4 NOTES 4. Christian, D. 2004. Ma
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N-6 NOTES 9. Collins, S.L., A.K. Kn
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N-8 NOTES 8. U.S. Department of Agr
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N-10 NOTES 19. O’Donnell, James J
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N-12 NOTES 19. Piore, 2002 (April 1
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N-14 NOTES application of secondary
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N-16 NOTES 22. Foukal, P., C. Frohl
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N-18 NOTES 54. Zummo, S.M., and M.H
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N-20 NOTES 38. Bullard, R.D. 1990.
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