King coal is back

[pmbryant]

From High Country News: Dec 22 2003

King coal is back
by Tim Westby

With natural gas supplies stretched thin, and the Bush administration loosening environmental regulations, energy companies are turning their attention back to coal

(snip)

Until earlier this year, the last time a coal plant of any significant size came on line in the West was 1984, but thanks to the rising cost of natural gas and the looser regulatory environment in Washington, D.C., coal is suddenly hot again. Upwards of 40 proposals are now on the table for new or expanded coal-fired plants, from eastern Montana to central Arizona.

All of this is re-igniting antagonism between environmentalists and the utility and mining industries. Environmentalists argue that the push for coal is little more than a knee-jerk reaction to a looming gas shortage. But utilities say the West’s vast coal reserves make coal the best and least-expensive way to meet the region’s growing demand for power.

(snip)


But the Sigurd coal plant, and others like it, just got a boost from former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt. His first major policy decision as the new director of the federal Environmental Protection Agency was to propose loosening the restrictions on mercury and nickel emissions from coal- and oil-fired power plants.

More: http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=14458

[Oggy]

1. Peak Oil

again, IMO. The return to the previous generation of fuel. Coal is much worse for Global Warming, so this will exacerbate the problem.

[AbsolutMauser]

2. Coal's time has passed...

We need to promote nuclear energy. Continued reliance on dirty power sources that produce little energy per mass of fuel is going to cause us too many problems. I'd also like to see increased research funding for fusion research, though that's still pretty far off.

Coal mining and burning cause too much damage to be our primary energy source in the coming centuries. We aren't going to run out of it anytime soon, but as our energy demands grow, the air will get nastier and mining operations will get larger.

Go nukes!

~AbM