America Realizes: ‘Coal Makes No Sense In This Day And Age’
America Realizes: ‘Coal Makes No Sense In This Day And Age’
The coal industry has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to get out the message of “clean coal,” through front groups like the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, campaign contributions, and an army of lobbyists. But the devastating December 22, 2008 coal ash slurry spill of the Kingston Fossil Plant in rural Tennessee broke through the cacophony of clean coal carolers. This ThinkProgress Wonk Room video is a stark reminder that in reality, coal isn’t clean.
Watch it:
This week alone, the news of progress away from dirty coal has reached a fever pitch:
Monday: A new report shows high levels of arsenic and other toxins in rivers downstream of the Kingston coal ash spill. “TVA says no drinking water standards were violated, but tests done by the nonpartisan, nonprofit group Environmental Integrity Project say otherwise.”
A Montana electric utility decided to “scrap its plans for a $900 million coal-fired power plant east of Great Falls and turn instead to renewable energy to meet the needs of its 65,000 Montana customers.”
Tuesday: In Pettus, West Virginia, five Coal River Mountain activists were arrested and charged with trespassing after locking themselves to a bulldozer and a backhoe at a Massey Energy mountaintop-removal mine site — that could instead be a wind farm.
250 people in the towns of Prenter and Seth, West Virginia “with orange and black water in their taps, tubs and toilets are suing eight coal companies they believe poisoned their wells by pumping mine wastes into former underground mines.”
Saying, “Coal makes no sense in this day and age,” Georgia Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver (D) introduced legislation to “limit then ban” coal from mountain-top removal and “place a moratorium on new coal-plant construction in the state.”
In her State of the State address, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) called for “a near-moratorium on new coal-fired power plants and a major reduction in reliance on coal for electricity generation over the next decade.”
Green Inc.’s Tom Zeller Jr. notes, “The coal industry — which suffers from an image problem to begin with — has had a particularly rough few days.”
Unfortunately, instead of pushing for immediate help for green technologies, the Senate is looking to add in billions of boondoggle funding for "clean coal" an oxymoron if I ever heard one.
6 Responses to “America Realizes: ‘Coal Makes No Sense In This Day And Age’”
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The coal industry has had a rough few days? Well, sort of. You also have to consider the rather strong move toward plug-in-hybrid adoption. Where does that energy come from? Coal of course. And how can we ease up the strain on the electric grid? Smart grid technology – but that alone has thus far seen wavering support in the Senate, has it not?
So, more hybrids and fewer dollars for smart grid technology= greater dependence on coal= more coal-fired power plants.
Sure, we can add lots of wind energy to the grid, but the money for the grid necessary for such an adoption is not enough to make up for the demand on the grid a fully matured plug-in car industry will bring.
February 4th, 2009 at 12:56 pmI’d like to see the steel industry make steel with solar panels and wind power. This is an attempt to destroy our manufacturing base and destroy our way of life by the environmentalists. Obama is part of this. He said during his campaign that he was going to make the use of coal very expensive to the point that it becomes too expensive to use. Biden also said he wants to close down all the coal fired energy plants.
Yes this is your Savior Obama at his best.
February 4th, 2009 at 2:23 pmProfessorj, there are other forms of power, and they are fungible. Do you know how many times more iron China mines than the U.S. at present? Do you approve of us sending resources overseas for things we have here already?
February 4th, 2009 at 8:30 pmAnders, would you rather be paying for cleaner and cleaner electricity, or paying OPEC?
February 4th, 2009 at 8:31 pmjps
You completly ignore the point of my post. I am aware of the worlds resources but if you can give me a reply to my post that makes sense then I will consider it. Without the coal industry millions of people would be sitting at home in the dark and freezing. There are no viable substitutes for coal powered energy except Nuke Power and this government won’t allow the development of that energy resource. When we come up with an aternative then I would more than happy to switch to it. As far as OPEC is concerned we can reduce the oil dependency from OPEC if the environmentalist get out of the way and Congress would shut up. Be that as it may, we ARE talking COAL here aren’t we?
OBTW Global warming is a hoax forced on dumb people who can’t think for themselves.
February 5th, 2009 at 10:41 amWell, “professorj”, maybe you can think for us then, and tell us why the majority of the science is wrong, and why the world’s major scientific academies etc disagree with you. A massive worldwide conspiracy? Have yet to see any credible evidence of that.
As for the rest, I recall reading that electric transit is so much more efficient that even power from coal, sent over an efficient grid, could compare favorably to gasoline in a standard car. But we need to fully exploit all of the most cost effective alternatives, including maximized efficiency, baseload solar thermal, wind, geothermal, tidal etc. Even the latest nuclear technology where it’s necessary to replace conventional coal. And contrary to what TBP says, we should be using natural gas to help phase out coal in the interim, not using it to power internal combustion vehicles.
February 5th, 2009 at 6:57 pm