the LA times has an editorial in support of coal and natural gas power and against nuclear power
Information on California’s energy usage
The coal that California uses is generated out of state. About 40% of the air pollution still flows to adjacent states and countries.
We support Lee points out more problems with the LA Times position
The deaths and costs from coal are not addressed in the LA Times editorial.
Particulates from coal and Nitrogen oxide and mercury and other pollutants kill over 30,000 americans every year (half of the deaths at Hiroshima, over 30 times annual US Iraq war deaths)
These figures have a lot of support in the medical journals.
LA has some of the worst air pollution in the United States and some parts have 15-40% greater risk of death because of air pollution. 1200 people die each year from air pollution from LA’s ports.
The study, which will be published in the November issue of Epidemiology, found the risk of death rose by 11 to 17 percent from the cleanest parts of Los Angeles to the most polluted areas of Riverside and San Bernardino counties to the east.
The risk of fatal heart disease rose by between 25 percent to 39 percent as the concentration of fine particles in the neighborhood’s air rose by a measure of 10 micrograms per cubic meter of air, the study showed.
Data from monitoring sites within Los Angeles show that the concentration of such airborne particles — tiny specks of solids and droplets of acids and other chemicals — rises by almost 20 micrograms per cubic meter as commuters head east from L.A.’s wealthier, westside neighborhoods.
LA has more asthma because of air pollution:
Funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a federal agency, the study found that children living in homes with a higher concentration of nitrogen dioxide — a pollutant found in car exhaust — had an 83 percent higher chance of developing asthma.
The study, based on an analysis of data on almost 23,000 people tracked by the American Cancer Society, also found that the risk of death from diabetes almost doubled in the more polluted areas of Southern California.
State of California agencies estimate that 1,200 Southern Californians die every year from the soot and smog coming from those ports.
The American Heart Associations position on air pollution
People living in the most polluted U.S. cities could lose between 1.8 and 3.1 years because of exposure to chronic air pollution.
Nuclear “waste” is 95% unburned nuclear fuel. There are nuclear reactors (molten salt) that were built in the 1960s and 1970s which can generate electricity from the “waste”.
Nuclear waste is contained in vats, pools or cans. Coal pollution including tons of Uranium and thorium goes into the air, food and lungs.
Coal makes our traffic worse. Coal costs billions in health and business costs (acid rain property damage, smog causes airline delays for poor visibility)
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