M Jalal Hussain
Bangladesh is a small country of 147,570 sqkm areas with a large population of 160 million, located on a vulnerable geographic plane. The density of population of the country is the highest in the world. The country has already been facing the dreadful effects of climate change and global warming in various shades and forms. Geologists, ecologists and social scientists are concerned about the likely affects of climatic and environmental degeneration that may have a serious toll on the over all socio-economic fabric of the country.
In this critical and environmentally dangerous situation, building a coal-fired power plant at Rampal near the Sundarbans appears to be suicidal. The Sundarbans, one of the largest mangrove forests in the region, comprises 10,000 sqkm of which approximately 6000 sqkm is within Bangladesh territory. It is also home to a large variety of wild life including species that are facing extinction. There are plenty of water bodies, rivers mainly, snaking in and around the forest range which are a great source of aquatic resources. Experts are unanimous that the coal-fired power plant, if built as planned by the government, would cause a colossal disaster to the forest belt which is also regarded as a natural protection against floods and cyclonic storms.
It is true, global energy demand is constantly rising, and given the limited options, coal remains relatively cheaper compared to oil and gas. While coal is a promising resource from an economic standpoint, it has significant environmental impact. For example, a large coal-powered plant producing 1000 megawatts of power can supply electricity to 1.6 million households. But at the same time, it also discharges about 6.0 million tons of carbon per year, equivalent to the emissions from 2.0 million automobiles. Besides carbon emission, there are other extremely serious emissions and discharges that can cause havoc to environment, human, animal and plant life.
Fly ash, for example, is no mean threat. Fly ash is one of the residues generated in combustion and comprises the fine particles that rise with the flue gases. Fly ash material solidifies while suspended in the exhaust gases and is generally collected by electrostatic precipitators or filter bags. Since the particles solidify while suspended in the exhaust gases, fly ash particles are generally spherical in shape and range in sizes from 0.5 µm to 100 µm. Fly ashes are generally highly heterogeneous, consisting of a mixture of glassy particles. Fly ash contains trace concentrations of heavy metals and other substances that are known to be seriously detrimental to health.
In 2004, the Clean Air Task Force commissioned a study to quantify the deaths and other health effects attributable to the fine particle pollution from coal-fired power plants. The report found that over 13,000 deaths each year are attributed to fine particle pollution from U.S. power plants. In addition, fine particle pollution is also responsible for several hundred thousand asthma attacks every year. Those who are most ruthlessly affected are the children and the elderly living in close proximity to the coal-fired power plants. There are stringent health effects caused by burning of coal. According to a report issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO), effects of coal driven pollution are estimated to shorten 1,000,000 lives annually worldwide.
Environmental impact of the coal-fired plant includes air pollution, atmospheric pollution as well as water pollution. Coal burning produces hundreds of millions of solid wastes such as fly ash, bottom ash, flue-gas sludge that contains mercury, uranium, thorium, arsenic and other heavy metals. An average 170 pounds of mercury is made by one coal-fired power plant every year. When 1/70 of a teaspoon of mercury is put into a 50 acre lake, it can make the aquatic elements unsafe for human consumption. Generally, a large coal-fired plant generates 3,700,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually and this is one of the main causes of global warming. A single coal plant can create 10,000 tons of sulfur dioxide that may cause acid rain damaging forests, lakes, canals, ponds and surrounding houses. A medium size coal plant creates 720 tons of carbon monoxide that causes headaches and places stress on people with heart diseases.
Generally a 500 megawatt coal-fired power plant draws 2.2 billion gallons of water from the nearby water reserves which is enough to support 250,000 people. Rampal plant with the capacity of 1,300 megawatts would consume at least 4.5 billion gallons of water which can support 600,000 people.
When world leaders are planning and moving forward to switch over to renewable green energy from the old and traditional anti-environment energy sources, Bangladeshi policy-makers are moving backward to adopt old and traditional energy generation by building coal-fired power plant close to a forest belt. From facts and figures revealed by researchers and various organisations including the UN Bodies, it is more than clear that Bangladesh being the most populous country in the world can in no way undertake coal-fired power plant to generate energy. It appears that the policy-makers only considered the cost of energy produced from the coal-fired plant and did not consider its devastating effects on a wide ranging sphere of environmental, human and wildlife aspects.
Human comfort is definitely less important than saving human lives from the death-trap. The concerned authorities should come forward and review the project in terms of cost-benefit ratio, social and environmental costs, health hazards, sustenance of the Sundarbans and other related matters, before taking a further move to go for the plant at Rampal. Reducing the cost of energy at the cost of irremediable sufferings of the people and damage to the country must not be justified as a rational proposition.
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