ABSTRACT
The use of coal, indeed the use of fossil fuel resources, has increased by several orders of magnitude since the early decades of the twentieth century (Miller, 2005; Speight, 2008). The expansion of the industrialized system which requires the generation and use of vast amounts of electrical energy as well as the increased use of automobiles, to mention only two examples, have been the major driving forces behind the expansion of fossil fuel usage. But, in concert with this increased usage, there has also followed the onset of detrimental side effects. Emissions of nonindigenous chemicals into the environment or the ejection into the environment of chemicals that are indigenous but in quantities that exceed their natural occurrence are major issues. Thus, the expansion and evolution of industry in the service of man is, perhaps, an excellent example of medicine almost killing the patient.
