The coal industry - long the lifeblood of mountain-rich but economically poor states like Kentucky - is bracing for a seismic shift as the Obama administration charges ahead with re-envisioned energy policies focused heavily on renewable resources and new ways of storing carbon emissions. Full Story »
Posted by Derek Hawkins
The article has some information to convey, but it misses the urgency of the climate change part of the story and spends a lot of ink on views of Kentucky congress critters who are financed by the giant coal companies.
The planet needs carbon-free renewable energy. "Clean coal" has not been demonstrated and promises to be too expensive to be practical. A carbon tax would be simpler than cap and trade shenanigans. We need publicly financed campaigns to keep coal representatives from buying congressional seats.
Informative report about the growing tension between coal mining companies and environmentalists regarding the future of coal as an energy source in the U.S., with a focus on Kentucky's proposed 'clean coal' plant. This short article presents fairly the views of various stakeholders, and provides useful factual evidence, but doesn't go far enough. It would benefit by providing links to other good publications where people could find more about this important topic.
This is basically an economic problem disguised as an environmental commercial. There is no such thing as clean coal. Yet the phrase gets tossed around like the "carbon footprint". Kentucky needs the coal industry to survive. Why is the FutureGen plant being built in Illinois? Like my father always says "follow the money"
This article hits on the battle for funding to make carbon dioxide capture and storage from burning coal into a deployable technology. While it covers the importance to several coal states from an economic standpoint it doesn't do justice to the global, environmental and political facets of the "clean coal" debate.
Like it or not, coal is likely to be with us for quite a while. About 50% of US electricity is produced by burning coal and it is a relatively abundant, though depletable, resource. Even if the US were to wean itself from coal, I believe that it is unlikely that the rest of the world would. Against that backdrop, it is important to figure out how to capture polutants (good but expensive technology exists) and greenhouse gas to protect ourselves and future generations.
The tremors created by the shift in energy policy can perhaps best be seen in the multimillion-dollar advertising battle over the public perceptions of coal as an energy ... More »
No background on the bizarre plan to bury CO2. Obama's plans are really a new type of tax that will have little or no effect on CO2 emissions. It's a nice excuse for a massive tax increase explicitly designed to redistribute wealth, but like all such schemes will make the country poorer on the whole.
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