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My coal Kentucky home
Kentucky to build new coal-to-liquids plant |
Joseph Romm |
22 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The following post is by Earl Killian, guest blogger at Climate Progress. Kentucky has selected a site to build a $4 billion coal-to-liquids plant in Pike County that would produce 50,000 barrels of liquid coal a day. According to Kentucky's Lexington Herald-Leader: ... The county would use federal and state grant money to put the basic infrastructure in place, including water and sewer, and the company chosen to operate the facility would pay for the rest.Coun ... |
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| Topics: coal, coal-to-liquid fuel, energy, Kentucky, mining (all these topics) |
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FERC releases reports
Feds note electric rate increases and high construction costs for nuclear and coal |
Sean Casten |
21 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| An interesting new report [PDF] from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission seeks to explain why electric prices are currently increasing so dramatically. They lay most of the blame on rising fuel costs and rising commodity costs (copper, steel, etc.), which is certainly contributory, but in my opinion deceptive, since it suggests that -- but for commodity volatility -- things could be hunky-dory again. This implicitly diminishes the fact that we're entering a buil ... |
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| Topics: nuclear power, coal, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, energy (all these topics) |
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You say that like it's a bad thing
Minnesota utility plans wind farm over coal reserves |
JMG |
17 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Story at Wind Watch: A Minnesota utility said it's planning its own mega wind farm in Oliver County, meaning Oliver and Morton counties could some day be home to as many as 1,000 new wind turbines across the hilltops.At the same time the turbines are capturing mile after mile of wind, they could cover up substantial coal reserves along that southern stretch of Coal Country ... |
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| Topics: coal, energy, Minnesota, renewable energy, wind power (all these topics) |
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Nice gigawatt if you can get it
Low-carbon energy solutions in India may depend on Tata |
Nathan Wyeth |
16 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Amid analysis of the G8's latest climate pronouncement, the announcement of India's first national climate action plan received less attention than it otherwise might have. Even in the Indian media, the plan was also overshadowed by the release of a McKinsey & Co. report that projects massive power demand growth in the country -- 100 gigawatts more demand in the next 10 years than previously estimated. Yet the very same day, the government's Investment Commission c ... |
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| Topics: business, coal, economy, energy, India (all these topics) |
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No relief in sight
The current oil shock |
Guest author |
16 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| This is a guest essay from Dilip Hiro, author of Blood of the Earth: The Battle for the World's Vanishing Oil Resources (Nation Books). It was originally published on TomDispatch and is republished here with Tom's kind permission. ----- When will it end, this crushing rise in the price of gasoline, now averaging $4.10 a gallon at the pump? The question is uppermost in the minds of American motorists as they plan vacations or simply review their daily journeys. T ... |
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| Topics: coal, economy, energy, greenhouse-gas emissions, oil, politics, renewable energy (all these topics) |
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Coal for dummies
Study finds that prenatal exposure to coal-plant emissions impedes neurodevelopment |
Joseph Romm |
16 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| A major new study by the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health finds: Closing coal-fired power plants can have a direct, positive impact on children's cognitive development and health ... [P]renatal exposure to coal-burning emissions was associated with significantly lower average developmental scores and reduced motor development at age two. In the second unexposed group, these adverse effects were no longer observed; and the frequency of delayed m ... |
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| Topics: air pollution, China, coal, energy, scientific research (all these topics) |
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Mechanism Bull
U.N. clean-energy program criticized for not funding clean energy |
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11 Jul 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 2:32 PM on 11 Jul 2008 The United Nations Clean Development Mechanism, set up under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, issues carbon credits to industrialized nations that pay for renewable-energy projects in developing countries. Last we checked, coal and natural gas weren't renewable -- but the CDM is currently paying out millions of dollars a year to 13 natural-gas-burning plants in China and India, and in Sept. ... |
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| Topics: carbon offsets, carbon trading, climate, coal, energy, fossil fuels, natural gas, news, renewable energy, United Nations (all these topics) |
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Coal money talks, public ignores
Poll shows 86 percent of public wants a five-year halt on new coal plants |
Ted Nace |
09 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Shortly before the July 4 holiday, Opinion Research Corporation released a poll entitled 'Opinions About Gas Prices and U.S. Energy Independence' [PDF] which shows -- drum roll please -- that the public, by a three-to-one margin, is either 'very angry' or 'somewhat angry' about gasoline prices. While gas prices grabbed the headlines, the poll also happened to ask a number of questions about coal, and the answers were both interesting and surprising: The percentage of ... |
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| Topics: coal, advertising, renewable energy, energy (all these topics) |
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CCS: Environmental whack-a-mole
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Sean Casten |
07 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Carbon capture and sequestration gets heralded as a great way to lower CO2 emissions and keep burning coal. Unfortuantely, it also kills the efficiency of the coal plant, meaning that every other environmental externality associated with coal-fired generation -- from mountaintop removal to power plant siting -- is exacerbated by CCS. Planet Ark puts it succinctly: The process called carbon capture and sequestration requires as much as 20 percent of the electricity ... |
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| Topics: carbon sequestration, coal, energy, greenhouse-gas emissions (all these topics) |
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The power of the state
State energy news update |
Joseph Romm |
30 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| This post is by ClimateProgress guest blogger Kari Manlove, fellows assistant at the Center for American Progress. -----On Wednesday (June 25th), Florida Gov. Charlie Crist signed a historic piece of energy legislation that advances Florida one step closer to establishing a cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Florida is the first state in the Southeast to adopt a law of this nature. While Crist has prevented new coal plant construction and whil ... |
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| Topics: state politics, coal, politics, energy, elections (all these topics) |
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A Coal New World
Landmark ruling halts Georgia coal plant on basis of CO2 emissions |
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30 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 2:38 PM on 30 Jun 2008 A Georgia coal plant cannot go forward until it receives an air-pollution permit limiting its carbon-dioxide emissions, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore ruled Monday. The ruling marks the first time a judge has used the Supreme Court's classification of CO2 as a pollutant to regulate emissions from an industrial source. Moore's decision overturns a p ... |
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| Topics: air pollution, climate, coal, energy, Georgia, greenhouse-gas emissions, litigation, news, progress (all these topics) |
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Power from rooftops could replace coal
More than half of today's electricity, more than 16 percent of today's energy |
Gar Lipow |
30 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Enough sunlight strikes unshaded U.S. rooftops to replace all the coal and some of the natural gas we use to make electricity. Backup via ground source heat pumps, and smart grid technology would allow this variable energy source to displace base-load coal with today's technology. Whether this is the most cost effective way to displace coal is another question. Also rooftop solar is a silver BB rather than a silver bullet: Even after massive efficiency improvements we wi ... |
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| Topics: coal, energy, renewable energy, solar thermal power, solar voltaic power (all these topics) |
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Mountain Madness
New coal plant approved in Virginia, may fuel mountaintop-removal mining |
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26 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 11:53 AM on 26 Jun 2008 An embattled $1.8 billion coal plant slated for Wise County, Va., was granted pollution permits Wednesday by a state regulatory board, allowing construction to proceed. The company that will be building the 585-megawatt plant, Dominion Resources, promised local officials it would only source coal from within Virginia; that move is expected to fuel increased mountaintop-remo ... |
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| Topics: business, climate, coal, energy, news, Virginia (all these topics) |
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Virginia is for coal lovers
State illegally approves new coal-fired power plant |
Glenn Hurowitz |
26 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Update: The permit that was approved this week by the state Air Pollution Control Board does not contain the 'out clause' for mercury emissions. Information from an SELC statement was incorrect, and they have apologized. Under heavy pressure from lobbyists for Dominion Virginia Power, Virginia announced yesterday that it will permit the construction of a new coal-fired power plant, even though doing so clearly violates the law. Just days after NASA's James Hans ... |
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| Topics: coal, energy, fossil fuels, grassroots activism, state politics, Virginia (all these topics) |
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Big Coal's new video
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David Roberts |
25 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| A shill from everyone's favorite Big Coal front group ABEC wanders the streets of D.C. asking totally unbiased questions: Next up: Do random passers-by prefer ponies and puppy dogs, or will they side with the environmentalists' effort to kick the nation's little old ladies in the shins? |
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| Topics: coal, energy, video (all these topics) |
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For Your Energy Information
Global energy demand will grow 50 percent by 2030, says EIA |
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25 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 3:07 PM on 25 Jun 2008 The world isn't going to kick its energy-sucking habits anytime soon, the U.S. Energy Information Administration predicted Wednesday. By 2030, global energy demand will grow 50 percent, says the EIA report, mostly in China and other developing countries. Some 124 new nuclear plants will be built worldwide by 2030, and natural gas will be in demand to "replace oil whereve ... |
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| Topics: coal, energy, natural gas, news, nuclear power, renewable energy (all these topics) |
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CNN and clean coal
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David Roberts |
24 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
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| Topics: coal, energy, video (all these topics) |
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Making a mountain into a coal hill
Virginia's disappearing mountain Eden |
Glenn Hurowitz |
24 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| As I reported last week, I'm in Appalachia, Va. to attend a hearing by the Virginia Air Resources Board about whether or not Virginia will permit Dominion Power to build a dirty, coal-fired power plant. It's Eden in the Mountains here -- miles and miles of green, forested mountains in every direction. Inside the forests, it's even better. My wife and I went on a hike through old growth hemlock groves (and did a trail-cleaning service project in the nearby Jefferson Na ... |
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| Topics: coal, energy, fossil fuels, grassroots activism, Virginia (all these topics) |
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Climate change ideas for On Day One
Day two of the UN Dispatch-Grist collaboration |
Ideas for On Day One |
24 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Our weeklong collaboration with UN Dispatch rolls on today with a discussion prompted by On Day One user taylorshelton who suggests government subsidies for non-renewable energy should be eliminated. Eliminate all subsidies for traditional fuels (coal, oil and nuclear) and invest all energy-related funds into renewable energy resources like solar, wind and cellulosic ethanol with the goal of completely eliminating dependence on fossil fue ... |
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| Topics: Big Oil, climate, coal, energy, politics, renewable energy (all these topics) |
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A Springfield in his step
McCain goes to Springfield, talks up nukes and coal |
Kate Sheppard |
18 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| John McCain followed up yesterday's energy speech with more energy talk today during a roundtable at Missouri State University in Springfield, Mo. Today he focused more specifically on his support for two energy sources: nuclear power and 'clean coal.' The roundtable also featured Greg Boyce, CEO of Peabody Energy, the world's largest coal company, and Mike Chesser, CEO of Great Plains Energy. The panel was moderated by Jim Jones, a Chevron board member and pre ... |
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| Topics: coal, elections, energy, John McCain, Muckraker, news, nuclear power, politics, presidential race 08 (all these topics) |
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Calamity Kaine
Virginia Gov, possible veep, afraid of Big Coal |
Glenn Hurowitz |
17 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine set a new standard for politician mealy-mouthedness with a letter to his Virginia Air Board (tip of the hat to Raising Kaine for digging this one up). Although he asserts that his letter isn't about any particular decision, everyone outside the governor's office knows that the letter is about one thing: The proposed massive coal-fired power plant being planned for Wise County, Virginia. His bureaucratic opacity (PDF) is sure to be taught in gov ... |
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| Topics: climate, coal, energy, politics, presidential race 08, Virginia (all these topics) |
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Thanks, neighbor, but I draw the line at black lung
When taking pride in your roots means breathing local coal dust |
Ashley Braun |
10 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| May I suggest that literally sharing a part of your local history can, in fact, be taken too far? Snipped from The New York Times:'Coal is part of us,' said William Liptok, director of the county's public works department. Not only does nearly every family in town have roots in mining, Mr. Liptok said, but virtually everyone breathes in coal dust, since it wafts into the air in the winter when trucks remove the boilers' ashes. [emphasis is mine] How's that, c ... |
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| Topics: health, coal, energy, West Virginia (all these topics) |
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You can't be too rich or too dirty
Fossil interests plow money into Congress |
Joseph Romm |
09 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Rich and thin is passé. What's hot now is rich and dirty. Why is a smart energy and climate policy so elusive for this country? In three words -- money, money, money. The nation's energy bill is now about a trillion dollars. That means the super-rich fossil fuel companies have enormous profits they can spend on lobbying to ensure their continued dominance. How much? Jeff Goodell has the answer here: In the first quarter of 2008, Big Coal's new front gr ... |
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| Topics: coal, energy, fossil fuels, lobbying (all these topics) |
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Country songs dedicated to your favorite climate personalities
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Gar Lipow |
07 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Dedicated to the coal and nuclear industries: Lorrie Morgan's What Part of No Don't You Understand? Dedicated to Scott McClellan: Randy Travis' Pray for the Fish: Dedicated to all the carbon traders: Tanya Tucker's Lizzie and the Rain Maker: |
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| Topics: carbon trading, climate, coal, energy, music, nuclear power (all these topics) |
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Cause and effect
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David Roberts |
05 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Here's a sentence from a new story in the WSJ: The second-poorest state in the nation based on household income, West Virginia counts on coal to support its economy. May I suggest a rewrite? West Virginia counts on coal to support its economy; as a consequence, it is the second-poorest state in the nation based on household income. |
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| Topics: economy, West Virginia, energy, coal (all these topics) |
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