Given all of these adverse health and environmental consequences of coal (the “bad” and the “ugly”), why do we still depend so much on coal? Is there any “good”? The good is that coal is the most abundant fossil fuel on earth, and it has a relatively high

energy density. The United States has about 29% of the world’s reserves (the Saudi Arabia of coal), followed by Russia with 19%. China, India, and Australia also have large deposits, while the Middle East has very little coal (21). This wide distribu­tion means that many major economies have ample resources without depending on imports. The World Coal Institute estimates that the earth’s coal reserves will last at least 120 years at the present rate of consumption. The abundance of coal makes it the cheapest form of energy for producing electricity. The other major reason that we depend so much on coal is because very powerful political interests from coal states have lobbied Congress for years to maintain a supportive environment for coal.