In case you missed it, above is the debate between Don Blankenship—the Chairman and CEO of Massey Energy Co., which is the fourth largest coal company in the United States—and Robert Kennedy, Jr.—a well-known environmental attorney.

Blankenship doesn’t believe in climate change and is very hostile towards environmentalism. Nonetheless, pollution from his industry negatively impacts the environment. For example, coal contains mercury, and after combustion, this mercury enters the environment through atmospheric deposition. Upon entering aquatic environments, mercury is converted by anaerobic organisms through a process called methylation into an organic and more dangerous form. This converted mercury is called methylmercury, which is a persistent bioaccumulative neurotoxin, and if we consume certain types of seafood, then we consume this neurotoxin.

Other pollution issues from burning coal include nitrogen deposition, which results in eutrophication or an overgrowth of algae due to excessive nutrients within the aquatic environment. Eutrophication can result in fish kills. However, the most controversial side effect of burning coal is the contribution and addition of carbon dioxide—a greenhouse gas—that has been trapped within the fossil fuel for millions of years. There are other environmental consequences from burning coal such as acid rain and fly ash spills. Obviously, the environmental concerns associated with the combustion of coal are well-founded.

During the debate, one issue that Kennedy and Blankenship agreed upon was the characterization of carbon capture and storage (the process of capturing carbon dioxide after the combustion of coal and at the point source of emission) as “a joke.” From the Charleston Gazette:

And at the end of the debate, Kennedy said somewhat glibly that he and Blankenship probably agree that carbon capture and storage, as a technology to deal with global warming, “is a joke.”

More from the New York Times:

Kennedy, the top attorney for the environmental group Waterkeeper Alliance, brushed off his first question to declare mountaintop-removal mining a “sin” that damages Appalachia’s environment and people to enrich a wealthy few in a speech peppered with statistics and references to Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Environmental regulations were not responsible for lost mining jobs, Kennedy declared, but mountaintop removal has busted unions and eliminated tens of thousands of workers.

Blankenship responded in kind, hailing his industry the life-blood of West Virginia and painting Kennedy as an outsider with an extreme environmentalist agenda that assaults “people who are teaching your Sunday schools and coaching your Little League.”

Video via Clean Skies

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