Use of coal a mixed blessing: ; While fuel has helped developing countries rise out of poverty, little is done to reduce pollution

TAIYUAN, China - It takes five to 10 days for the pollution fromChina's coal-fired plants to make its way to the United States, likea slow-moving storm.

It shows up as mercury in the bass and trout caught in Oregon'sWillamette River. It increases cloud cover and raises ozone levels.And along the way, it contributes to acid rain in Japan and SouthKorea and health problems everywhere from Taiyuan to the UnitedStates.

This is the dark side of the world's growing use of coal.

Cheap and abundant, coal has become the fuel of choice in much ofthe world, powering economic booms in China and India that havelifted millions of people out of poverty. Worldwide demand isprojected to rise by about 60 percent through 2030 to 6.9 billiontons a year, most of it going to electrical power plants.

But the growth of coal burning is also contributing to globalwarming, and is linked to environmental and health issues includingacid rain and asthma. Air pollution kills more than 2 million peopleprematurely, according to the World Health Organization.

"Hands down, coal is by far the dirtiest pollutant," said DanJaffe, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Washington whohas detected pollutants from Asia at monitoring sites on MountBachelor in Oregon and Cheeka Peak in Washington state. "It is apretty bad fuel on all scores."

To understand the conflict over coal, look at Taiyuan and thesurrounding Shanxi Province, the country's top coal-producing region- and one of its most polluted.

Almost overnight, coal has turned poor farmers in this city of 3million people into Mercedes-driving millionaires, known derisivelyas "baofahu" or the quick rich. Flashy hotels display chunks of coalin the lobby, and sprawling malls advertise designer goods fromVersace and Karl Lagerfeld. Real estate prices have doubled,residents say, and construction cranes fill the skyline.

A museum in Taiyuan celebrates all things coal. Amid photos ofsmiling miners, coal is presented as the foundation of the country'seconomic development.

Yet the cornstalks lining a highway outside the city 254 milessouthwest of Beijing are covered in soot. The same soot settles onvegetables sold at the roadside, and the thick, acrid smoke blotsout the morning sun. At its worst, the haze forces highway closuresand flight delays.

With pressure to clean up major cities such as Shanghai andBeijing, particularly in the run-up to next year's Beijing Olympics,the central government is turning increasingly to provinces such asShanxi to meet the country's power demands.

"They look at polluted places like Taiyuan and say it's sopolluted there so it doesn't matter if they have another five powerplants," said Ramanan Laxminarayan, a senior fellow at Resources Forthe Future, an American think tank that found links between airpollution and rising hospital admissions in Taiyuan.

"I visited these power plants and there is no concept ofpollution control," he said.

"They sort of had a laugh and asked, 'Why would you expect us toinstall pollution control equipment?'"