|
WORD COUNT
6680
MAY 28, 2008
TIME FOR A MORATORIUM
ON COAL – by Andrew Korfhage
In March of this
year, a Midwestern power company canceled a new Missouri coal plant, and
in April, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius vetoed two more for her state.
Each cited rising concerns about carbon emissions and climate change in
their explanations.
“We’re already a very
heavy carbon state,” Sebelius told the “Wichita Eagle.” Benefits of
low-cost electricity “are really less significant than the harm that
carbon would do and potentially the financial risk that it puts those
ratepayers and taxpayers in.”
Sebelius is not
alone, with former Utah governor Olene Walker, a Republican, protesting
a proposed coal-fired power plant in Nevada, and Democratic Lt. Gov.
Beverly Perdue of North Carolina (daughter of a former coal miner)
calling for a moratorium on new coal-fired power in her state.
These government
officials are simply catching up to the public.
According to a 2007
poll, nearly 90 percent of Americans surveyed said they favor a
moratorium on coal plants, and agree that it’s time for “a new
industrial revolution, one that is characterized by the orderly phasing
out of fossil fuels and the phasing in of clean, renewable energy
sources.” Despite rhetoric from those pushing coal-fired power on a
nation ready for a clean energy future, most Americans realize coal is
not clean.
First, coal mining
exacts a huge environmental toll on local communities and health toll on
miners. Mountaintop removal mining clear-cuts forests to expose the tops
of mountains, which are then detonated with explosives. With the coal
extracted, unused soil and rock are dumped into adjacent valleys. The
process destroys the ecosystem, and sends toxic waste downhill into
slurries, which can poison local communities. With its numerous
on-the-job hazards, coal mining is, simply put, one of the deadliest
professions for workers.
Secondly, even if the
processes used to extract the coal weren’t so dangerous and disruptive,
there is no remotely “clean” process for burning coal. According to a
Department of Energy statement last year about a coal-plant intending to
sequester carbon emissions underground, such a process is not yet “a
reasonable option because sequestration technology is not sufficiently
mature.” The actual cost of permanently storing coal-plant pollution
underground is prohibitive (according to some estimates, it’s more
expensive than building a nuclear plant), and no studies can predict the
long-term effects of carbon sequestration.
Third, the price of
coal is skyrocketing. An Ohio coal plant under construction now was
proposed to cost just over $1 billion, and instead has cost over $3
billion with costs rising. And that’s just the cost to build the plant –
not to run it, sequester the carbon, or to pay for coal. Meanwhile, the
cost of coal has quadrupled since last year, triggering utility rate
increases around the country. For example, Dominion, in Virginia, has
proposed an 18 percent rate hike, just to pay for the cost of coal.
Solar energy starts to look pretty good – at about the same price to
install as coal, with no fuel costs (free power from the sun), and
almost no operation and maintenance costs.
Finally, according to
the Clean Air Task Force, pollution from coal-fired power plants causes
30,000 deaths per year in the United States – more than drunk driving,
AIDS, or homicides. Plus, fine particles and gases from coal plants are
linked to asthma, heart disease, emphysema, and lung cancer, and mercury
pollution from coal plants can cause birth defects.
All of this is on top
of coal’s climate-change causing effects.
With little
leadership at the national level on this issue (the Bush
administration’s most recent proposals cut research into solar power
while increasing research on carbon sequestration and coal power), we
need all state leaders to follow the examples of Kathleen Sebelius,
Olene Walker, and Beverly Perdue.
In 2007, nearly 60
coal-fired power plants were canceled across the country. This year,
eight more plants, including the two mentioned above, have been
canceled, but there are plenty still planned. It’s time to tell your
governor that your state is ready for a major push on energy efficiency
and renewable power -- and that it’s time to close the door on coal.
--
Andrew Korfhage is an
editor for Co-op America (www.coopamerica.org),
a nonprofit consumer organization advocating socially and
environmentally responsible purchasing and investing.
# # # # #
|
