Coal facts.

Number of late-model cars it takes to generate 10,000 tons
of nitrogen oxide (N[O.sub.x]), the principal constituent of
lung-inflaming smog, in one year                                500,000

Number of average-sized coal-burning power plants it takes
to generate the same amount of N[O.sub.x]                             1

Number of coal burning electric power plants it took to release
17.5 million tons of carbon dioxide (C[O.sub.2]), the principal
global-warming gas, in the town of Monroe, Michigan in 1 year         1

Number of trees you'd have to cut down or burn to add that
amount of C[O.sub.2] to the atmosphere                      761,000,000

Approximate number of Americans who had died in the aftermath
of the Iraq War, with these deaths becoming a major national
political issue, as of late 2003                                    300

Number likely to die each year, according to widely accepted
statistical models, as a result of diseases caused by the
Monroe, Michigan coal-burning plant--the plant where George
Bush chose to give a speech touting his new energy policy
giving high priority to building new coal burning power
plants                                                              300

Population of Cheshire, Ohio, in 2000                             2,500

Population of Cheshire in 2003, after a protracted dispute
between the citizens and the American Electric Power Co.
(AEP) over pollution from the company's coal-burning plant,
which resulted in the company's decision to just buy the
town rather than try to stop the pollution                           12

Number of miners killed in coal mine accidents for every 29
million tons of coal produced in the United States (where
more than 51,000 people have died in coal mining accidents
in Pennsylvania alone)                                                1

Number killed in coal-mining accidents in the Ukraine for
every 29 million tons produced                                      203

Tons of sulfur dioxide (S[O.sub.2]), the principal cause
of acid rain, emitted per year by a typical 1,000 Mwe
thermal gas or oil power plant                                       44

Tons of S[O.sub.2] emitted per year by a coal-burning power
plant of equal capacity                                          30,000

SOURCES: Auto emissions and coal burning: Union of Concerned Scientists
(UCS); trees and coal burning: UCS and Elizabeth Kolbert, The New
Yorker, deaths caused by the Monroe plant emissions: Kolbert; exodus
from Cheshire: Robert E. Pierre, The Washington Post, mining deaths:
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and Occupational
Health Institute of the Ukraine; S[O.sub.2] emissions:
Eric Goldin, Southern California Edison.