NewsRack: 'Coal' news in 'Energy-Independent' topic for user flenvcenter

Five Things to Remember about Obama's Clean Power Plant Rule	30.7.2014	Green on HuffingtonPost.com
Thursday and Friday EPA will hold in this city the final in its series hearings on its proposed rule to clean up carbon pollution from coal fired power plants. There will be a lot of theater, and a lot of opposition as well as support. Some of the opposition comes from workers from coal mining communities or those with power plants fired with coal; their livelihoods are at risk from the changes sweeping the utility industry, including the declining dominance of coal. Others are ideologically motivated, clinging to the view that for society to limit pollution is merely another disguised form of socialist collectivism - it is not the role of government to protect people from the risks of industrialism, doing so saps the "rugged individualism" that made America great. But much of the organizing fervor behind the protests is purely partisan - this rule is bad because President Obama developed it. Indeed, if the rule were actually in place, John Boehner might have had a hard time deciding whether Obamacare or ...
Also found in: [+]
In Push To Protect Big Coal, Alabama Officials Say New EPA Regulations Violate God's Will	30.7.2014	Green on HuffingtonPost.com
Pushing back against new Environmental Protection Agency standards limiting carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants, Alabama officials gathered Monday to argue that the new federal policy flouted the Almighty's will by regulating a God-given resource. “Who has the right to take what God's given a state?" Alabama Public Service Commission (PSC) member-elect Chip Beeker asked during a news conference held in the offices of the Alabama Coal Association on Monday, according to AL.com . By 2030, the Obama administration’s new rules would require Alabama to reduce carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants by 27 percent from 2012 levels. Alabama’s PSC officials, however, view the new standards as an "an assault” on the state’s lifestyle, and are accusing the Obama administration of purposely seeking to diminish coal-related jobs. "I will not back down,” PSC President Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh said Monday, claiming that the new EPA regulations will cost Alabama 16,000 jobs. “We will not stand for what ...
Also found in: [+]
Dirty Coal Exports Are a 'Global Shell Game'	29.7.2014	CommonDreams.org Headlines

Also found in: [+] [flenvcenter :: Coal]
Largest Coal-Fired Plant In Western U.S. Set To Close By 2044	29.7.2014	Green on HuffingtonPost.com
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — The largest coal-fired power plant in the West will produce one-third less energy by 2020 and is on track to cease operations in 2044 under a proposal that the federal government adopted to cut haze-causing emissions of nitrogen oxide at places like the Grand Canyon. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday that the owners of the Navajo Generating Station could either shut down one of the plant's 750-megawatt units or reduce power generation by an equal amount by 2020. The owners would have until 2030 to install pollution controls that would cut nitrogen-oxide emissions by 80 percent. EPA regional administrator Jared Blumenfeld in San Francisco said a final decision didn't come easily and required flexibility. Along with meeting energy demands in the West, the 2,250-megawatt plant powers a series of canals that deliver water to Phoenix and Tucson, fuels the economies of the Navajo and Hopi Tribes, and helps fulfill American Indian water-rights settlements with the ...
Also found in: [+]
The Gas Trap	28.7.2014	Green on HuffingtonPost.com
Natural gas is all the rage. Power plants are rushing to convert from coal or oil to gas-fired production. Businesses are converting boilers. Homeowners are switching to gas furnaces. Drillers are sucking it out of shale and pipeline companies are plotting thousands of miles of new pipeline. Natural gas is hailed as a "bridge" from the dirty fossil fuels of coal and oil, embraced as much better for our environment and much cheaper for consumers. But this is a fool's gold rush. We are making a grave mistake in creating an infrastructure built on natural gas, which fails on both environmental and economic grounds. Increasingly, we are realizing the escaped methane from drilling and moving natural gas is as destructive--or more so--than our present carbon dioxide emissions. Although in the lab, burned methane releases half the greenhouse gases as coal, too much methane leaks--or is intentionally vented at oil drilling sites. And methane has 86 times more global warming potential than carbon dioxide ...
Also found in: [+]
Wishful Thinking About Natural Gas: Why Fossil Fuels Can't Solve the Problems Created by Fossil Fuels	28.7.2014	Truthout.com

Also found in: [+]
Wishful Thinking About Natural Gas	28.7.2014	Commondreams.org Views

Also found in: [+]
Wishful Thinking About Natural Gas	28.7.2014	Politics on HuffingtonPost.com
Cross-posted with TomDispatch.com Albert Einstein is rumored to have said that one cannot solve a problem with the same thinking that led to it. Yet this is precisely what we are now trying to do with climate change policy. The Obama administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, many environmental groups, and the oil and gas industry all tell us that the way to solve the problem created by fossil fuels is with more fossils fuels. We can do this, they claim, by using more natural gas, which is touted as a “clean” fuel -- even a “ green ” fuel . Like most misleading arguments, this one starts from a kernel of truth. That truth is basic chemistry: when you burn natural gas, the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) produced is, other things being equal, much less than when you burn an equivalent amount of coal or oil. It can be as much as 50% less compared with coal, and 20% to 30% less compared with diesel fuel, gasoline, or home heating oil. When it comes to a greenhouse gas (GHG) heading for the ...
Also found in: [+]
How To Make The U.S. Greener? Export Pollution	28.7.2014	Green on HuffingtonPost.com
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — As the Obama administration weans the U.S. off dirty fuels blamed for global warming, energy companies have been sending more of America's unwanted energy leftovers to other parts of the world where they could create even more pollution. This fossil fuel trade threatens to undermine President Barack Obama's strategy for reducing the gases blamed for climate change and reveals a little-discussed side effect of countries acting alone on a global problem. The contribution of this exported pollution to global warming is not something the administration wants to measure, or even talk about. "This is the single biggest flaw in U.S. climate policy," said Roger Martella, the former general counsel at the Environmental Protection Agency under President George W. Bush. "Although the administration is moving forward with climate change regulations at home, we don't consider how policy decisions in the United States impact greenhouse gas emissions in other parts of the world." Over the past ...
Also found in: [+]
Environmental Implications of United States Coal Exports: A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Future Power System Scenarios	24.7.2014	Environmental Science & Technology: Latest Articles (ACS Publications)
Environmental Science & Technology DOI: 10.1021/es5015828
Also found in: [+]
Industry Pushes EPA to Roll Back Power Plant Regulations	23.7.2014	CommonDreams.org Headlines

Also found in: [+]
Aussie Households Go Solar: Game-Changer	23.7.2014	Green on HuffingtonPost.com
Australia's household solar revolution has caught the government-owned electricity sector by surprise. Join Earth Dr Reese Halter from Los Angeles in another SOS segment as he tells how Australian homeowner are fighting back against climate disruption. More than one million Australians have already installed solar panels on their rooftops. It has caused demand for electricity from the grid to plummet. The race to power Australian homes from the sun has left Prime Minister Tony Abbott's Coalition government speechless. Photo credit: smh.com.au Despite being a sun-rich country, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott continues to promote coal, a known heat-trapping pollutant, as the only source of energy for the future. The government has just spent over $50 billion upgrading the coal-powered energy grid expecting more demand for more electricity. By the time coal-powered electricity reaches Australian homes it has traveled hundreds of miles through the grid - a network of wires, cables and poles. Photo ...
Also found in: [+]
Is coal dead?	22.7.2014	High Country News Most Recent
Which plants are slated for closure or switches to natural gas.
Also found in: [+]
Grassroots Organizations Will Help China Move Away From Coal	22.7.2014	Green on HuffingtonPost.com
Co-authored by Dr. Sun Qingwei, Pacific Environment China Climate Coordinator President Obama's new carbon rule elicited a seemingly strong reaction from China: a pledge to institute a national carbon cap by 2016 . But does China's pledge have teeth? We argue yes, but only if grassroots organizations and citizens put increasing pressure on the government to reduce the country's reliance on coal. In the past decade, two key factors have helped improve China's climate policies: international climate change negotiations and domestic political pressure to clean up pollution. At the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Summit, Premier Wen Jiabao promised to cut carbon emissions 40-50% by 2020. This commitment resulted in the birth of China's Renewable Energy Law, and specific coal reduction targets were introduced into China's current Five Year Plan (2011-2015). If the United States takes further steps to demonstrate leadership at the 2015 Paris Climate Summit, China will come under even greater pressure to curb its ...
Also found in: [+]
"You Want Clean Air? Well, Screw You."	22.7.2014	Green on HuffingtonPost.com
We've just spotted a new form of conservative protest against the EPA and the Clean Air Act: Coal Rollers. Pick-up trucks customized to spew black smoke -- "the newest weapon in the culture wars." As one salesperson of these trucks put it: "You want clean air and a tiny carbon footprint? Well, screw you." The people driving these trucks spew black smoke over anyone they think looks like an environmental softie-people driving Priuses or riding bikes, for instance. Let's compare this "Right to Pollute" attitude with that of a polluter who now wants to do right by the world. Tom Steyer is a former hedge fund manager who is forcefully and effectively using his vast wealth to support regulations that will slow down climate change. He will invest $100 million in political races around the country this year; he is targeting places where polluting climate deniers, backed by the Koch Brothers , are trying to stop any action to curtail the dangerous carbon pollution that is wreaking havoc on our world. Recently ...
Also found in: [+]
Breaking the Grip of the Fossil Fuel Economy: If It Can Happen in Appalachia, It Can Happen Anywhere	20.7.2014	Truthout.com

Also found in: [+]
Breaking the Grip of the Fossil Fuel Economy: If It Can Happen in Appalachia, It Can Happen Anywhere	19.7.2014	Commondreams.org Views
Laura Flanders A mural in Benham, Kentucky. Photo by Catherine Moore for Appalachian Transition Fellows.Benham, Ky., in the heart of Harlan County, is a quiet place with a proud sign that has been amended over time to read, "Benham, the little town that International Harvester, coal miners and their families built." read more
Also found in: [+]
Old King Coal has a Texan hole ?	18.7.2014	The Earth Times Online Newspaper - Environment News
We have ideas and giant international conferences coming up, on how to combat global warming and specifically what we can do with greenhouse gases. It could be, though, that some of the jokers in the pack are simply sequestering while Rome burns. After all, their employment depends on maintaining the coal, oil, gas and even fracking industries. Maybe replacing these industries with renewable energy technologies would use different engineers and spoil the party for many profitable companies?
Also found in: [+]
10 ways to live better electrically	18.7.2014	TreeHugger
The cost of electricity is going up (both in dollars and in environmental and health impacts). Here are some tips for reducing your costs and impacts.
Also found in: [+]
Game-changing rooftop solar boom is squeezing the profits out of coal power in Australia	14.7.2014	TreeHugger
Eventually, coal won't be able to compete with solar at any price. Even if it was free, solar would be cheaper because of network charges.
Also found in: [+]

1 to 20 of 3,964