Americans have been fooled by the lie of "cheap coal." Our nation's dependence on coal is hugely expensive. While our utility bills may be small, Americans are paying enormous external costs related to coal: cleaning up polluted ecosystems, doctor's office and emergency room visits, and lost productivity, just to name a few. Over 3.1 million work days are estimated to be lost every year due to coal-related illnesses. These are all heavy costs we don't see in our electricity rates.

In order to make truly informed choices on our energy sources, Americans need to know the true costs of where our electricity comes from. And that includes far more than what we see on our utility bills.

Close down dirty coal plants. Many of our oldest and least-efficient coal plants are operating without environmental controls that protect human health, due to a loophole in the 1977 Clean Air Act. Those living near these outdated behemoths suffer terrible health consequences. For example, the communities around three coal-fired power plants in Chicago suffer an estimated 66 premature deaths, over 100 heart attacks and thousands of asthma attacks from the pollution they have to endure.

Closing down coal plants is no easy task. That's why CLEAN and Greenpeace are working together to outline the true costs of coal-fired energy to identify the plants that can and should be shut down first.

Be sure to check out these local groups who are doing great work on closing down coal plants:

Regulate coal ash as a hazardous waste. Coal ash, the byproduct of burning coal, is full of toxic materials, from mercury to cadmium to arsenic. Since coal ash is regularly stored in unlined, unmonitored ponds, this toxic waste often leaches into groundwater, putting nearby citizens and ecosystems at risk for serious health problems. Currently, coal ash is regulated at the state level, resulting in lax or nonexistent rules for safe disposal.

However, the EPA recently began to address this issue, proposing two potential measures for coal ash regulation. Option C would institute federal regulations for safe disposal, while Option D would allow states to continue with business as usual. CLEAN and its member organizations worked hard to generate comments and get citizens to the hearings to support Option C. We're now waiting for the EPA to make its decision. In the meantime, check out these local groups working on coal ash: