From an article in Madison, Wisconsin's Capital Times:
COOLING COAL - SIERRA CLUB LAWYER HERE SUCCESSFULLY FIGHTS POWER PLANT POLLUTION
Excerpts:
"In the last four years, local Sierra Club attorney Bruce Nilles has stopped 58 coal-fired plants from being built in the United States. As a result of his work, energy companies have abandoned their plans, fearing going through the permitting process of getting a new coal plant built. Nilles, 39, is director of the organization's National Coal Campaign. He has stopped plants in Kansas, Illinois, Florida, Texas and Nevada. He also had a hand in last month's settlement in which the state of Wisconsin agreed not only to clean up UW-Madison's coal-fired Charter Street power plant but also to examine and possibly improve the operation of 13 other coal-burning plants it manages across the state.
He is in the process of fighting 54 more coal-burning plants in America. In the last two weeks alone, Nilles has beaten back four plants. 'It's been a very good two weeks,' he said, grinning.
It all comes down to global warming, and there is a lack of federal action on the issue, Nilles said Thursday.....
'These coal plants are preventing us from stopping the acceleration of global warming and instead investing in clean, renewable energy sources like wind and solar,' Nilles said.
'The reason we focus on coal plants is because they emit 40 percent of the global warming emissions in the United States,' he said. Talking up solar and wind power, Nilles dismisses nuclear power, saying it is too expensive and too dangerous."
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This is good. If the coal plants can't comply with existing laws and make it through the permitting process, they should be shut down or not built.
But, listen to why utility officials say they want to run/build the plants (and they're right) -
"Utility officials and other adversaries have countered that the energy demands of the country make burning coal necessary. Coal, which is available domestically, accounts for 50 percent of the electricity produced in the U.S. And so far, alternative sources of energy such as wind and solar meet only a only a small fraction of the country's demand."
Given the rate at which electricity demand will increase (1.3% - according to the Energy Information Administration), where is this additional capacity going to come from? Not renewable energy sources. Why not? Because current economics favor fossil fuels. How do we know? Because that's what utilities want to build. A company's 'job' is to maximize their investors return. Since utilities don't need to pay for the external costs of fossil fuel and nuclear use.......of course these are better from an economic standpoint.
It's time to change the 'rules of the game' and begin to include the external costs of energy into prices. The best way to do this is via a phased-in federal tax shift from income to non-renewable energy.
