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RESULTS		Results 376 – 400 of 484
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Headline	Author	Published	Section
And the Mining Seems So Safe and Clean Congress considers legislation that would give coal a boost		29 May 2007	Daily Grist
And the Mining Seems So Safe and Clean Congress considers legislation that would give coal a boost What if there was a liquid fuel with the potential to produce nearly twice as many greenhouse gases as petroleum? And it would cost nearly four times as much to build a processing plant for this fuel as for petroleum? You'd say no thanks. But Congress is saying yes please to this flawed fuel, commonly known ...
Topics: climate, coal, coal-to-liquid fuel, energy, news (all these topics)

Energy efficiency vs. liquefied coal: Which do you think Congress is subsidizing? Hint: We're talking about Congress here	David Roberts	29 May 2007	Gristmill
Those of you with strong stomachs will want to marvel at the contrast between two New York Times stories out today. Marvel ... and tear your fracking hair out. First, there's this story on energy efficiency. It makes the simple and familiar point that the cheapest, fastest source of energy is negawatts -- not using the energy in the first place. In particular, efficiency is cheaper than coal: 'When we started talking about this in 1990s in terms of energy efficien ...
Topics: climate, climate change mitigation, coal, Congress, energy, energy efficiency, politics (all these topics)

Are Republican presidential candidates taking global warming seriously? Brownback's plan is not promising	David Roberts	23 May 2007	Gristmill
He hasn't released a detailed plan yet, but Republican presidential contender Sam Brownback gave a speech yesterday to the Set America Free coalition that outlined his thoughts on energy policy. (There's more info in this Greenwire story, but it's subscription only.) Republican candidates haven't talked about climate and energy as much as their Dem counterparts, but Brownback's comments are more or less representative. Consider this a critique, then, of mainstream Re ...
Topics: climate, climate change mitigation, coal, elections, energy, ethanol, greenhouse-gas emissions, nuclear power, oil, politics (all these topics)

Department of unresolved contradictions	David Roberts	23 May 2007	Gristmill
I'm going to put up a longer post about this in a second, but for now, I merely note the following two statements from Republican presidential candidate Sam Brownback's energy speech. One: ... we need to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. This is possible using our ingenuity, resources and determination. Two: Coal needs to be at the center of our energy policy for the foreseeable future.
Topics: coal, elections, energy, greenhouse-gas emissions, politics (all these topics)

The growth rate of carbon emissions has tripled That ain't good	Joseph Romm	22 May 2007	Gristmill
A stunning new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) finds that the growth rate of CO2 emissions has tripled in recent years: CO2 emissions from fossil-fuel burning and industrial processes have been accelerating at a global scale, with their growth rate increasing from 1.1 percent/year for 1990-1999 to >3 percent/year for 2000-2004. The emissions growth rate since 2000 was greater than for the most fossil-fuel intensive of the Interg ...
Topics: climate, coal, energy, greenhouse-gas emissions (all these topics)

Peak oil and climate change New Hansen paper	John McGrath	22 May 2007	Gristmill
Today the Oil Drum linked to a James Hansen released paper analyzing the impact of peak oil, peak gas, and peak coal on the likely emissions of carbon. Hansen notes that most of our emissions scenarios have thus far failed to account for whether the carbon will even be there to burn. Plenty of graphy goodness, but what I took away was this: There's just enough oil and gas left in the ground to take us up to, or maybe a bit over, the 450 parts per million of CO2 that ...
Topics: climate, coal, energy, greenhouse-gas emissions, James Hansen, natural gas, oil (all these topics)

Dog bites man	David Roberts	21 May 2007	Gristmill
West Virginia's two U.S. senators say it's possible to promote coal and clean air initiatives at the same time.Uh ... WTF else are they going to say?
Topics: air pollution, coal, energy, politics, West Virginia (all these topics)

Coal Is the Enemy of the Human Race New BP, Rio Tinto venture plans three 'clean coal' plants		21 May 2007	Daily Grist
Coal Is the Enemy of the Human Race New BP, Rio Tinto venture plans three "clean coal" plants Last week, oil giant BP announced a new "clean coal" partnership, and it's already spewing big plans. With Rio Tinto, the world's third-largest mining company, BP created Hydrogen Energy, a cleaner-energy venture. Just one hitch: they're gonna make hydrogen by burning fossil fuels, which produces carbon ...
Topics: Big Oil, business, coal, energy, news (all these topics)

Clarion Caller An interview with renowned climate scientist James Hansen	Kate Sheppard	15 May 2007	Main Dish
James Hansen. Photo: nasa.gov James Hansen, NASA's top climate expert, believes scientists have an obligation to speak out when their findings have important implications for the public -- and he certainly put that belief into practice last year when he told The New York Times that the Bush administration was trying to muzzle his calls for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. Hansen has been ...
Topics: climate, climate change mitigation, climate science, coal, energy, international politics, interview, IPCC, James Hansen, politics (all these topics)

More on peak coal Yeah, that's running out too	David Roberts	13 May 2007	Gristmill
A few weeks ago I mentioned a study showing that coal reserves are not nearly as extensive as the "200-year supply" invoked by coal boosters. Now Richard Heinberg brings word of another study that reaches substantially similar conclusions. The main thrust is that the quality of easily accessible coal is declining and that prices are almost certain to go up, and soon. An interesting correlate -- which hadn't really occurred to me, but makes sense -- is that ...
Topics: coal, energy (all these topics)

WWF on coal It's bad	David Roberts	11 May 2007	Gristmill
The WWF has a new briefing out called "Are the costs of using coal higher than the cost of cleaning it up?" It contains the standard "coal is the enemy of the human race" statistics, and concludes with six recommendations for how to reduce coal's impact on global warming: 1. Emerging economies need access to best-available-technologies including last-generation coal-fired power technology and support from G8 nations and the financial sector in ...
Topics: climate, climate change mitigation, coal, energy, greenhouse-gas emissions (all these topics)

Mountaintop removal and clean water: Kinda at odds DC lobbying effort May 12-16	Erik Hoffner	11 May 2007	Gristmill
Citizens from Appalachia were at the UN's meeting on sustainable energy policy this week to challenge the clean-coalers, and were received really well by the other delegates. Coal advocates were hard-put to refute the evidence that coal kills communities. Now the effort moves to D.C. from May 12-16 for the 2nd Annual Mountaintop Removal Week lobbying effort. Organized by Appalachian Voices, the effort will advance the Clean Water Protection Act toward passage and he ...
Topics: coal, Congress, energy, environmental justice, legislation, lobbying, mining, politics, United Nations (all these topics)

Barack Obama is not serious about global warming That's what his support for CTL shows	David Roberts	11 May 2007	Gristmill
The LA Times has a long story about the growing conflict over coal-to-liquid (CTL) fuel. This is the most important paragraph in the piece, though it is inexplicably buried at the bottom: A new study has concluded that turning coal into liquid fuel yields 125% more carbon dioxide than producing diesel fuel and 66% more than gasoline. If the carbon dioxide is captured and permanently stored, liquid coal emits 20% more greenhouse gas than diesel but 11% less than conv ...
Topics: Barack Obama, climate, climate change mitigation, coal, elections, energy, greenhouse-gas emissions, politics (all these topics)

One down ...	David Roberts	11 May 2007	Gristmill
It's a start.
Topics: coal, energy, New York (all these topics)

Reid gears up to defend stupid mining law Sigh	David Roberts	10 May 2007	Gristmill
The 1872 Mining Law is evil. It gives mining companies cheap and privileged access to public land, and makes it virtually impossible for anyone, including the gov't, to stop them from grabbing it (yet another cost of mining that gets offloaded onto the public). Attempts to get rid of or update the absurdly archaic and destructive statute have long been blocked by legislators from mining states. Among them is Harry Reid (D-Nev.), now the majority leader in the Senate, ...
Topics: coal, Congress, energy, Harry Reid, lobbying, mining (all these topics)

Peak coal, peak bees Trends on an ever-shrinking planet	Erik Hoffner	08 May 2007	Gristmill
I was at Coop Power's excellent annual renewable energy summit in western Massachusetts recently. Richard Heinberg was there as a presenter. He discussed his well-regarded peak oil projections, and he then put that curve next to his peak uranium and peak coal projections. That visual drew gasps from the crowd -- especially the peak coal bit. Sure we've got lots of coal, but its quality ain't what it used to be, and won't go as far. Check his data. This got me thinki ...
Topics: biodiversity, coal, energy, oil, water conflicts (all these topics)

Caveat	David Roberts	07 May 2007	Gristmill
A few posts back I big-upped Jon Tester for killing the liquid coal mandate coal-state Republicans tried to attach to the Senate EPW energy bill (which passed committee last week). I should add, lest things get too darn cheery around here, that the bill itself is largely focused on boosting ethanol. And you know how Gristmillians feel about that. So.
Topics: coal, Congress, energy, ethanol, politics (all these topics)

MTR at the UN this week Press conference on Tuesday in NYC	Erik Hoffner	07 May 2007	Gristmill
A delegation of grassroots groups from around Appalachia will be at the UN's Commission on Sustainable Development meetings this week to discourage further MTR abuse and advocate for alternatives (More on them here: www.stopmtr.org). New Yorkers, turn up for this if you can: NEW YORK CITY//MAY 8, 2007 NEWS ADVISORY A delegation of Appalachia coalfield citizen groups will hold a news event at 2 p.m. on Tuesday (May 8, 2007) in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza Park to ca ...
Topics: coal, energy, grassroots activism, politics, United Nations (all these topics)

Tester kills liquid coal amendment We knew we liked that guy	David Roberts	07 May 2007	Gristmill
Huge Gristmill big-ups to Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who late last week cast a crucial vote in the Senate EPW committee to scuttle a coal-to-liquid amendment. The committee's been trying to craft an energy package; they had agreed to table contentious issues like CTL for open debate on the floor, but Sen. Craig Thomas (R-Wyo) put forth his measure anyway. It would have created a substantial mandate for liquid coal fuels -- 21 billion gallons annually by 2022 -- and cou ...
Topics: coal, energy, legislation, Montana, politics (all these topics)

Reece on MTR mining	David Roberts	06 May 2007	Gristmill
Erik Reese has an op-ed in the NYT about mountaintop-removal mining and a new program that shows promise in helping landscapes recover from it. Here's the nut: Appalachia's land is dying. Its fractured communities show the typical symptoms of hopelessness, including OxyContin abuse rates higher than anywhere in the country. Meanwhile, 22 states power houses and businesses with Kentucky coal. The people of central and southern Appalachia have relinquished much of the ...
Topics: coal, deforestation, energy, greenhouse-gas emissions, Kentucky (all these topics)

Your tax dollars at work Coal is the enemy of the human race. Coal is the enemy of the human race	Adam Browning	03 May 2007	Gristmill
The Office of Fossil Energy (no, not Dick Cheney's office -- apparently there is another one) released a new report this week: 'Tracking New Coal Fired Power Plants.' An excerpt from the press release: If built, the plants will be critical in helping to meet future electricity demand in the United States. The new and proposed plants would theoretically produce enough electricity to power 90 million homes. Coal is vital to the nation's energy security. Providi ...
Topics: coal, energy, fossil fuels, national security (all these topics)

Coal is filthy Motivation aside, the ad's still true	Jessica Tzerman	01 May 2007	Gristmill
West Virginia Dems Rep. Nick Rahall and Sen. Robert C. Byrd are fighting mad over some 'despicable' anti-coal ads that have appeared in major publications recently. The ads, underwritten by a natural gas company called the Chesapeake Energy Corp, show faces smudged with make-up meant to resemble coal dust under a headline reading: 'Face It, Coal is Filthy.' The campaign was pulled in the wake of Rahall's and Byrd's furious objections that it was unfair and mis ...
Topics: coal, energy, politics, West Virginia (all these topics)

Today in Big Coal Shenanigans everywhere	David Roberts	26 Apr 2007	Gristmill
The WSJ has a story today about the high hopes riding on the few large-scale carbon-capture demonstration projects under construction. The entire global political and economic elite desperately wants carbon sequestration to work, so they can keep us hooked up to the fossil fuel mainline. But as the WSJ notes, it's a tough row to hoe: Unlike oil or gas fields, power plants aren't always conveniently located near geological formations where carbon dioxide can be store ...
Topics: carbon sequestration, coal, coal-to-liquid fuel, energy (all these topics)

The Nation takes on climate change Lots o' goodies	David Roberts	24 Apr 2007	Gristmill
The Nation has devoted its current issue to "surviving the climate crisis," and it's chock full o' good stuff. First up is Jim Hansen, the World's Least Censored Censored Scientist, who recommends the following five steps: "First, there should be a moratorium on building any more coal-fired power plants until we have the technology to capture and sequester the CO2." A gradually increasing price on CO2 emissions. Energy-efficiency sta ...
Topics: climate, climate change impacts, coal, energy, greenhouse-gas emissions, politics (all these topics)

Jim Sims and the clean coal PR push Learn how to recognize the shills	David Roberts	17 Apr 2007	Gristmill
Yesterday I wrote about an energy conference in Utah at which Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer enthusiastically shilled for coal and demanded more federal money for it. Looking more closely at the conference, I see I shouldn't have been surprised. The Salt Lake Tribune story from yesterday is all but a press release for Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., who hosted the shindig. Toward the end, though, it drops this tidbit: Some of the West's biggest names in energy, includin ...
Topics: coal, energy, lying liars, politics, state politics, Utah (all these topics)

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