permaculture

[Jack Rowe <jackrowe@compuserve.com>]

LIGNITE is in fact a type of coal... when burned for electrical generation,
as it is in my home area of Texas, it releases more radioactivity (as
radon, mostly) over the life of the plant than some nuclear reactors (I'm
convinced this statistic ignores -- as is customary -- the solid end waste
products, but still...). Lignite is strip-mined, leading to an interesting
phenomenon in already-ravaged areas such as Texas. Federal laws mandate
'restoration' of strip-mined areas... our local company takes this
seriously enough,  and plain-'ol-Texas is already sufficiently in a state
of terminal rape in general, that some of the areas reclaimed after
strip-mining are as healthy or healthier than most of the surrounding
rangeland, with more ponds, more plant speicies, lots of brush piles, etc.
Too bad we don't require restoration of cow pastures.

Maybe what we're talking about on the list is LIGNIN, a fairly-stable
mid-point breakdown product of cellulose decomposition. As a fairly
long-chain organic molecule, it probably acts a lot like the humic acids. 

Jack