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February 24, 2009 5:14 AM
Coal Rush Update: 57 New Plants Put on Ice
Last year I posted a summary of CREDO Action's efforts to stop the construction of new coal-fired power plants. We've continued this work in 2008 and 2009, and notched up victory after victory -- totalling 57 plants cancelled since we started this work in 2007.
Of the 18 plants cancelled in 2008, CREDO Action members spoke out and helped put the kibosh on 11 of them. And so far in 2009, we've helped stop or significantly delay 16 new plants that were on the drawing board -- including several in Michigan put on hold by Gov. Granholm's forward-looking decisions on energy announced in her state of the state address, and another handful caused by Dynegy's smart decision to get out of the coal-fired power plant business. (Their stock went up 19% after news of their decision.)
We can take a few moments to celebrate these victories, as they represent billions upon billions of tons of cimate-changing CO2 that won't be emitted into our atmosphere. But there's still lots of work to be done. Join the CREDO staff in Washington DC on March 2nd at the Capitol Climate Action. (Not surprisingly, Congress is powered by some very dirty energy from the Capitol Power Plant.) If you can't join us there, take action and send a message to the power & utility company executives to invest in renewables and efficiency, not dirty coal-fired power plants.
(And for a look at how efficiency and distributed renewables can eliminate the need for new power plants in general -- as well as benefit consumers and make our nation much more secure -- just click on over to the Union of Concerned Scientists' web site for their primer on energy and security.)UPDATE - Clean coal? Yeah, right!
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Discussion
Normally, I'd expect an organization that had successfully weakened our country's power infrastructure wouldn't crow about it so proudly. Until the CREDO folks have the stones to offer a replacement for the power plants they're taking down, I'd advise that they not brag so loudly about being part of the problem.
Keith,
It's unfortunate that your misunderstanding of the situation seems to be so profound.
The problem -- both from security and climate change perspectives -- is our overdependence on dirty fossil fuels, which ruin our environment and (in the case of imported oil) weaken our national and economic security. A big part of the solution lies in efficiency and weatherization upgrades -- which will put people back to work AND save consumers money on their energy bills.
Another big part of the solution will be greater development of solar and wind power -- which are truly renewable (the fuel is 100% free) and don't change our climate. A less-centralized and more distributed power generation system is inherently stronger than one relying on big power plants subject to failure or terrorist attack.
Here at CREDO, we're proud of the work we're doing to create a better energy future for America -- and we're excited that the Obama administration, with overwhelming public support, seems to be moving in the same direction. What a refreshing change from the disastrous, short-sighted policies of the Bush administration.
The problem--both from informational and factual veracity perspectives--is that you're working from a template that ignores reality. CREDO is bragging about taking down COAL power plants and guess which nation in the world has some of the largest coal deposits? That'd be... us. That takes down the security approach rather nicely, don't you think? As to the environmental approach, it's interesting that people have focused their armageddon prophecies on a colorless odorless unreactive benign gas essential to plant life (and thus, life on Earth). Thus far, the more research they do, the less evidence there is that carbon dioxide is evil. So sad that energy is being expended obsessing over a theory (which we cannot verify for another 40 years) when there are bigger problems to take care of.
Oh, please. Do you even comprehend the engineering problems that must be solved before solar or wind power are capable of replacing coal? The first problem is that both magical green sources do not produce power consistantly. Today the sun will shine very intensely and tomorrow it won't. Wind changes speed and direction regularly. You're relying on natural forces that cannot be shoehorned into doing what we want them to unless we build a coal power plant next to every one of them to stabalize production. Solar and wind are a dream... a nice dream, true, but a fantasy when there are significantly more reliable and productive alternatives... such a nuclear fission.
Of course you're all proud of yourselves. You've taken your first steps towards your pie in the sky and feel all virtuous about it. When you are sitting in a brownout, shivering in the cold, only able to use any modern convenience if it's an especially sunny day, I shall be sitting at my computer in a climate-controlled house lit by incandescent lightbulbs playing computer games before grabbing a soda out of my fridge, tossing my glass in the dishwasher, and dirty clothes in the washer... and I will laugh at you. Because I'm willing to accept the possibility that the temperature will increase by 1° F and oceans will surge to a centimeter above their current height in 40 years (maybe) and will be oh-so-jolly about my uranium-fired electricity. And unlike you yahoos, I'll be petitioning the government to build coal powerplants in Africa so the desperately impoverished third-world people don't have to heat their homes with animal crap and can stay up later than sunset. That's the great thing about coal, you see... it's cheap enough for the poor to enjoy while all the rich people can feel good about themselves running the TV with a windmill.
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