Abstract
I am responding to several recent Dispatch editorial/letters to the editor on the costs and benefits of fracking for shale gas development, livestock stock waste/phosphorous run off pollution of Ohio lakes and the use of gypsum sludge from coal power plant scrubbers to bind with and hold the phosphate in the soil (Dr. Dick, OARDC, OSU). By adding an additional issue it is possible to show a holistic convergence of all four issues. The fourth issue is the increased cost of coal electric generation when downstream surface mining and downwind acid rain and greenhouse gas economic costs are included in the price of coal-based electricity, i.e., broadening the accounting stance. Recent research at Ohio State University published in the Journal of Environmental Management [Vol.100 (2012) pp. 52-58] shed some light on the economic costs from abandoned surface mine impacts on downstream lake recreation. When the four foregoing issues are viewed as an interrelated set of issues, new principles and options for wise and sustainable environmental and economic development policy emerge.
Highlights
The first principle is that the full costs including subsidies and environmental impacts of all renewable and nonrenewable energy options need to be incorporated in any comparisons of options
I am responding to several recent Dispatch editorial/letters to the editor on the costs and benefits of fracking for shale gas development, livestock stock waste/phosphorous run off pollution of Ohio lakes and the use of gypsum sludge from coal power plant scrubbers to bind with and hold the phosphate in the soil (Dr Dick, OARDC, OSU)
The fourth issue is the increased cost of coal electric generation when downstream surface mining and downwind acid rain and greenhouse gas economic costs are included in the price of coal-based electricity, i.e., broadening the accounting stance
Summary
The first principle is that the full costs including subsidies and environmental impacts of all renewable and nonrenewable energy options need to be incorporated in any comparisons of options. More Holistic Thinking and Broader Accounting Stances for Energy, Food and ISSN: 2637-7659 *Corresponding author: Fred Hitzhusen, Professor Emeritus, AEDE, Columbus, Ohio Submission: July 01, 2020
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