John Snyder, Alberni Valley Times, June 28, 2011

Recently, while reviewing the Updated Project Description for the proposed Raven Underground Coal Mine Project, I came across the following : "Estimated methane emissions from the mine at 127,500 cubic meters per day." The following are calculations I did based on those estimates on methane emissions:

Methane emissions per day is equal to 127,000 cubic meters. One hundred twenty-seven thousand cubic meters of methane is equal to 1,482 metric tonnes of CO2. One metric tonne is equal to 2,205 pounds.

Mine emits equivalent of 3,267,810 pounds of CO2 per day. One mature tree captures 48 pounds of CO2 per year. One mature tree captures 0.13 pounds of CO2 per day. The Raven Coal Mine would need to plant 25,137,000 trees per day, to offset the methane emissions from the mine.

Perhaps the new slogan for the proposed mine should be: "Save a coal mine, plant a tree."

John Snyder
Fanny Bay

© Alberni Valley Times 2011

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