Methods involve adding sorbent components, such as calcium oxide, alumina, and silica, as well as optional halogens as part of environmental control. Use of the sorbents leads to significant reductions in sulfur and mercury emissions that otherwise would result from burning coal. Use of the sorbents leads to production of waste coal ash that, while higher in mercury, is nevertheless usable as a commercial product because the mercury in the ash is non-leaching and because the coal ash has a higher cementitious nature by virtue of the increased content of the sorbent components in the ash. Thus, the methods involve adding powders having qualities that lead to the production of a cementitious coal ash while at the same time reducing emissions from a coal burning facility.