Reid, Pelosi Call For End To Coal At U.S. Capitol Power Plant
Reid, Pelosi Call For End To Coal At U.S. Capitol Power Plant
Responding pre-emptively to plans of a massive act of civil disobedience at the coal-fired U.S. Capitol Power Plant, the leaders of Congress today called for an end to its use of coal. In a letter to the Architect of the Capitol, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) describe the plant as “a shadow that hangs over the success” of the architect’s efforts to green the Capitol:
The Capitol Power Plant (CPP) continues to be the number one source of air pollution and carbon emissions in the District of Columbia and the focal point for criticism from local community and national environmental and public health groups.
Reid and Pelosi note that “there are not projected to be any economical or feasible technologies to reduce coal-burning emissions soon.” (In other words, coal is dirty.) They ask the architect to switch the plant fully to natural gas “by the end of the year”:
Therefore it is our desire that your approach focus on retrofitting at least one of the coal boilers as early as this summer, and the remaining boiler by the end of the year.
The switch will allow the plant “to dramatically reduce carbon and criteria pollutant emissions, eliminating more than 95 percent of sulfur oxides and at least 50 percent of carbon monoxide,” as well as the costs of “cleaning up the fly ash and waste.”
Gristmill’s Kate Sheppard reports “that doesn’t mean the big protest on Monday is off, according to organizers,” because “there are still hundreds of other power plants burning coal around the country.”
4 Responses to “Reid, Pelosi Call For End To Coal At U.S. Capitol Power Plant”
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As Bernie Sanders would say: This is yooge.
February 26th, 2009 at 7:51 pmAnother reason why we need nuclear power. Modern nuclear power plants are safe and reliable. They are being used effectively across Europe and in Japan. You can’t be anti-coal and anti-nuclear.
February 27th, 2009 at 9:32 am..um..darter22? Then you won’t mind having all the spent fuel rods, and all the other nuclear waste put in your garage, and basement, right? Europe (France) and Japan? Are you kidding? They have a MASSIVE waste problem. It has not been solved! It is the most toxic substance known to man…period. If you think it’s so great, then help yourself, and dig in your shovel and put it in your backyard. Git ‘er done darter! Idiot.
February 27th, 2009 at 9:59 pmI agree with DJ Rah-Jur and would like to add that, along with waste that will be still be radioactive in 250,000 years, the mining, processing, and transporting of uranium fuel is not carbon neutral. I read somewhere that the issue of nuke plant waste is like coming home from work to find the tap in your bathtub has been running all day (with the drain closed) and your house is beginning to flood. What would you do? Let the water keep running? No! You’d turn the tap off, right? Well, that’s what we need to do with all of our nuke plants…turn them off! We need real solutions that won’t leave us flooded.
March 14th, 2009 at 8:03 pm