I don’t know what that guy was talking about above but here’s how it is connected to water and air
Answer:
Air:
When coal is burned it releases a number of airborne toxins and pollutants. They include mercury, lead, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulates, and various other heavy metals. Health impacts can range from asthma and breathing difficulties, to brain damage, heart problems, cancer, neurological disorders, and premature death.
Although limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have helped prevent some of these emissions, many plants don’t have the necessary pollution controls installed. The future of these protections remains unclear.
Water:
When you burn charcoal in your grill at home, ash is leftover. The same is true for coal-fired power plants, which produce more than 100 million tons of coal ash every year. More than half of that waste ends up in ponds, lakes, landfills, and other sites where, over time, it can contaminate waterways and drinking water supplies.
Other water impacts include acid rock drainage from coal mines, the obliteration of mountain streams and valleys by mountain top removal mining, and the energy-water collisions that occur when coal plants rely too heavily on local water supplies.
