johnmcc793’s Recent Comments

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  SMCRAfied

  Pompey,  I lobbied for Environmetnal Policy Center which steered the strip mining bill through 3 Congresses until President Carter signed it into law.

  Returning strip mined lands to approximate orignial contour was the foundation of reclamation requirements for strip coal mines.

  We assumed, at the time -- 1971-1976 --, that thin mountain seams would not be economically attactive for huge shovels and drag lines.  The acid rain section of the CAA changed that as my previous post has stated.

  Coal boilers are designed around coal characteristics, heat and ash content, grindability, btu content to a lesser degree.

  Western low sulfur subbituminous has a lower Btu content and eastern boilers that shifted to western coal had to be extensively modified to accommodate the change in ash melting temperature and likely ash fouling in the boiler bottom.

  To eliminate MTR, the electric power market for that "compliance coal" would be hard pressed to find a low sulfur content substitute and would have to comply with the CAA using a scrubber to trap the SO2 where the low sulfur coal emitted just enough SO2 to meet the CAA requirement.

  That is the crux of the problem...substituting the MTR coal with deep mined WV, KY and VA low sulfur coal or importing it from Columbia and other international sources.  WY coal will not cut it.

  This has been a heartbreak for those of us who worked a decade to regulate stip mining only to find that it has been gutted the way West Virgnia has.  Undoing MTR will bascially require a rewrite of the CAA acid rain program and capitalizing many billions of dollars of SO2 control equipment on plants 30 to 50 years old.  

  John McCormickOn The entire 'clean coal' effort could be fruitless posted 9 months, 1 week ago 17 Responses

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  Missing the point!

  To Pompey and others discussing mountaintop mining, you are missing a piece of truth.  

  When the acid rain program was added to the Clean Air Act, the SO2 trading mechanism made it possible for eastern coal boilers equipped to burn only hard eastern coal to switch from western KY and southern Il high sulfur coal to the very low sulfur content coal of eastern KY and Appalachia.

  1.2 pounds of SO2 per million btu of heat became the prized commodity among mine owners and their "compliance coal" customers.

  We can thank Environmental Defense Fund for the SO2 trading program and the "unintended conseuence" of creating a "compliance coal" market for MTR coal in Appalachia.

  Back when the acid rain program was being debated (I was there) Chairman Henry Waxman proposed legislation to "buy" SO2 scrubers for the nation's 50 largest SO2 emitting plants.  EDF thought that was an expensive and silly idea and went for the quick fix...unintended consequences and all.

  Look it up.  The history of MTR is writen in the Clean Air Act.  Gets complicated but the truth is important.

  John McCormickOn The entire 'clean coal' effort could be fruitless posted 9 months, 1 week ago 17 Responses

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  Liberal Arts to the rescue

  jimbeyer, you had my attention until you threw in your own Liberal Arts zinger:

  [Build plugin hybrids that run on renewable methane. That's all that's needed]

  Back that up with some data, please.

  John McCormick
  On Alliance for Climate Protection ramps up calls for renewable-energy plan posted 1 year ago 17 Responses

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  Downwind Truth

  Makes no sense to be opposed to wind energy.  It is essential in the US mix of electric generation.  But, it has its downside and that is the hidden reality of its advocates; inlcuding Al Gore.

  Big Horn Wind Project reports its monthly net generation data to the US Department of Energy's Energy Informaiton Administration (Form 920) and its generating capacity (Form 860).

  Using 2007 data,  the total megawatt-hours (MWh) of net generation was 550,365 MWh.  Total generating capacity of the wind farm is 199 megawatts (MW).  

  If the farm operated 24/7 throughout the year its on-line factor would be 100%.  Only a few nuclear units operate inear that range but 365 x 24 x generating capacity is how the industry calculates the on-line factor of generating units.

  Thus, Big Horn has a theoretical on-line factor of 1,743,240 MWh of electric output.

  The follwing is the 2007 monthly MWh and on-line capacity for Big Horn provided by the operator:

          Monthly on-line %
  JAN    23.93%
  FEB    26.27%
  MAR    39.02%
  APR    38.54%
  MAY    33.57%
  JUN    41.34%
  JUL    29.83%
  AUG    29.07%
  SEP    28.85%
  OCT    33.28%
  NOV    19.63%
  DEC    40.78%

  2007 Total    31.57%

  This is not a condemnation of wind power.  It is a reality check that no matter how many towers are put up, they work when the wind blows and that may not be in synch with demand.

  Electricity storage is offered as a solution to wind downtime but we are not there yet.

  100% of elec gen from renewables in 10 years is an impossibility and we do not help our cause by ignoring the intermittent nature of wind and solar and the constant nature of power demand.

  Go Senator Obama!

  John McCormick
  On The European wind industry continues its march to dominance posted 1 year ago 1 Response

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  Right on, keep it coming!

  Jon,  

  When the votes are counted and Senator Obama assembles his transition tam and their documents, nationalizing the grid should be at the top of his energy proposals.

  That happens when people like you get the point across to his transition team.

  John McCormickOn Will we see $3 gasoline before $5? posted 1 year, 1 month ago 11 Responses