This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Here is a practical way to burn coal not only with no pollution but also making the air, water and soil cleaner. We know that at Helper and Price, locally mined coal is carried over Soldier's Summit to arrive at the Wasatch Front to be burned and pollute. I propose a practical solution. The soil around Price is alkaline and requires lowering the acidity for crops.
My proposal is to build the power plant right where the coal is mined, and carefully mix the carbon, sulfur and nitrous oxides. The electricity produced is carried over to the Wasatch Front. The gaseous exhaust of the oxides combines with agricultural water to form a weak acid, which in turn allows farmers to use this water to treat the alkaline soil.
Now, coal does contain a variety of minerals, so the toxic ores have to be removed.
I believe this is a practical solution: First, we do not have to carry the coal to the Wasatch Front. Second, we do not have pollution on the Wasatch Front. Third, farmers have a ready source of acidic water for their crops.
Daniel Barker
Lakeland, Fla.