Energy -- King Coal's Future

April 24, 2008

by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, Ali Frick, Benjamin Armbruster, and Brad Johnson

ENERGY

King Coal's Future

Coal-fired plants provide over 50 percent of the electricity in the United States and over 83 percent of the global-warming pollution from the power sector. A large coal-fired power plant emits the carbon dioxide equivalent of one million SUVs, and the United States has nearly 500 plants. Because power plants are a generational investment -- the average age of U.S. coal plants is 40 years -- the decision to construct new plants in a world at risk from global warming is monumental. NASA climatologist James Hansen argues that a "firm choice to halt building of coal-fired power plants that do not capture CO₂ would be a major step toward solution of the global warming problem." In addition to the pressing issue of climate change -- exacerbated by the surge in coal-fired electricity in the developing world -- "the conventional coal fuel cycle is among the most destructive activities on earth." Coal is contaminated with toxic elements like mercury, arsenic, and lead that end up in the air, water, and soil. The costs of coal are disproportionately borne by the poor communities where it is mined and by children exposed to its pollution.

A GROWTH INDUSTRY: In the United States, "power companies have pushed to build more than 150 new coal-fired power plants." "European countries are slated to build about 50 coal-fired plants over the next five years." "China is completing two new coal plants per week." Since the rise of the Industrial Age, economic growth has been tied to increased electricity demand. Although the price of coal, like all other commodities, is rising to record levels, its economics are attractive to companies wary of the even greater price jump in natural gas, its primary fossil fuel competitor. But part of this drive to build new plants in the United States is driven not by demand, but by political calculus. The United States is poised to join Europe in placing mandatory limits on greenhouse emissions. Electric utilities hope they can successfully lobby for existing plants to be grandfathered into a new system of regulation, as they did in 1970 with the Clean Air Act, shifting the "significant financial and environmental risk" from the companies to everyone else.

THE POLITICAL BATTLE: Public opposition to coal plants due to their mercury, acid rain, smog, and carbon emissions has helped kill 60 coal plants in the past several years. Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC), the $40 million coal-industry public relations effort, is no more. In recent months, youth, environment, and health activists exposed ABEC's efforts to attack green-collar jobs and propagandize coal. ABEC and the Center for Energy and Economic Development (CEED), the trade organization that started the front group, have now become the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE). Writing for Grist, Sean Casten translates the retooled message of ACCCE: "We need to burn more coal. We need taxpayers to pay for the cost of that coal. And we've got enough money to make sure it happens." Jim Rogers, President and CEO of coal-heavy Duke Energy, an ACCCE member, has become one of the most prominent industry voices calling for the regulation of global warming pollution from power plants and other sectors of the economy. In making his case for action, Rogers includes a very important caveat: regulate greenhouse gases, but regulate in a way that ensures that the American taxpayer foots the bill for cleaning up the company's aging and high-emitting power plants. The European Union this week signaled it is willing to invest government dollars into finding a possible future for coal, "pushing forward proposals for a dozen demonstration projects" of coal plants with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). CCS is still unproven but may be the "key enabling technology for a future in which we can continue to use our vast coal resources and also protect the climate."

ANOTHER PATH: If not hundreds of new coal plants a year, then what? Energy efficiency is the most powerful choice. A study this week by the electric utilities found that "energy efficiency improvements in the U.S. electric power sector could reduce the need for new electric generation by an additional 7 to 11 percent more than currently projected over the next two decades." McKinsey and Co. has found that improving energy efficiency could "offset some 85 percent of the projected incremental demand for electricity in 2030, largely negating the need for incremental coal-fired plants." Even with limited public investment, renewable technology is making dramatic gains. Wind turbines, once used primarily for farms and rural houses far from electrical service, are becoming more common in heavily populated residential areas as homeowners are attracted to ease of use, financial incentives, and low environmental effects. In addition to wind turbines and solar power, which can provide increasingly inexpensive but variable power, there is a host of renewable power sources that can be used for base-load electric capacity instead of a coal-fired plant. Solar thermal systems "gather heat from the sun, boil water into steam, spin a turbine and make power," like other solar thermal plants, and are designed to store the heat for hours or even days. Geothermal and tidal power are also available technologies. Although the challenge of transitioning away from coal-fired power is monumental, the first steps are clear.

ADMINISTRATION -- AFTER 14-DAY SILENCE ON ISSUE, PERINO DENIES TORTURE EVER OCCURRED: During the White House press briefing yesterday, reporter Helen Thomas broke the press corps' 14-day silence on the ABC News story reporting that top White House officials -- including President Bush -- signed off on the use of torture on detainees.Yet when Thomas pressured White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, Perino flatly denied it, insisting, "The United States has not, is not torturing any detainees in the global war on terror." Perino pointed to CIA Director Michael Hayden for support. But in a Feb. 5 Senate hearing, Hayden said outright that "waterboarding has been used" on at least three detainees. Moreover, FBI Director Robert Mueller testified yesterday that the FBI "reached out to DoD [Department of Defense], DoJ [Department of Justice], in terms of activity that we were concerned might not be appropriate." Mueller said that "some of the FBI's concerns dated back to 2002, when top al Qaeda detainees were waterboarded by CIA interrogators."

MILITARY -- BUSH TAPS GEN. PETRAEUS FOR CENTCOM COMMANDER: Yesterday, President Bush nominated Army General David Petraeus, commander of multinational forces in Iraq (MNF-I), to lead Central Command (Centcom), the post responsible for U.S. military operations stretching from Kazakhstan, through the Middle East, and to the Horn of Africa. Petraeus's number two in Iraq, Lt. Gen Ray Odierno, will take over command of MNF-I, thus elevating the status of the two men "most closely associated with President Bush's current strategy in Iraq." Defense Secretary Robert Gates was asked yesterday if the promotions indicate that the United States will "stay the course" in Iraq. "Staying that course is not a bad idea," Gates said, citing "the security gains that had been achieved under General Petraeus's command." Petraeus replaces Adm. William Fallon, who resigned last month over disagreements with the Bush administration's Iraq-centric strategy for the region. But Petraeus's new position will force him to answer a question he has previously refused to address: Does fighting in Iraq make the United States safer? "The big question of this appointment, therefore, is whether Petraeus's views will change as a result of wider responsibilities."

ENVIRONMENT -- BUSH'S NEW FUEL ECONOMY PROPOSAL KNOCKS DOWN STATES' EMISSIONS REDUCTION EFFORTS: Yesterday, The New York Times reported that the administration has proposed raising "car and truck fuel economy standards substantially faster than required" by Congress. But what appears to be a positive development will hinder states' efforts to regulate greenhouse gases. Tucked away in the 417-page report, as the San Francisco Chronicle noted, the Department of Transportation declared that more stringent limits on emissions from states are an "obstacle to the accomplishment" of federal standards and conflicts with federal law, specifically killing California's efforts to regulate tailpipe emissions. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) previously won assurances that the energy legislation passed in December "would be neutral on whether California and other states could proceed with their own rules." Pelosi reiterated yesterday that Congress has already decided to "reject the Administration's position." The assault comes despite a federal judge in Vermont ruling in September that the state rules do not conflict with federal mileage standards and a Fresno court in December saying California and the EPA can set limits on vehicle emissions. California Attorney General Jerry Brown called it a "covert assault" on California's greenhouse gas reduction efforts.

At the trial of Chicago fundraiser Tony Rezko, a "government witness claims Rezko discussed efforts among top Republicans, including former White House political director Karl Rove and GOP national committeeman Robert Kjellander," to have U.S. attorney Patrick Fitzgerald "fired to derail a corruption probe."

New data suggest that Iraq will "reap an even larger than expected windfall this year -- as much as $70 billion" in oil revenue. With oil prices near $120 a barrel, USA Today writes that the news will likely "strengthen the hand of U.S. lawmakers complaining that Iraqis aren't footing enough of the bill for rebuilding their nation."

"The CIA concluded that criminal, administrative or civil investigations stemming from harsh interrogation tactics were 'virtually inevitable,' leading the agency to seek legal support from the Justice Department," according to court documents filed yesterday. "It appears to be a calculated and calibrated effort to justify the unjustifiable," said Curt Goernig of Amnesty International.

In testimony before the House Judiciary Committee yesterday, FBI Director Robert Mueller "recalled warning the Justice Department and the Pentagon that some U.S. interrogation methods used against terrorists might be inappropriate, if not illegal." Mueller said some of the FBI's concerns dated back to 2002, "when top al Qaeda detainees were waterboarded by CIA interrogators."

Yesterday, health experts testified to the House oversight committee that abstinence-only programs "have not cut teen pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases or delayed the age at which sex begins." Dr. Margaret Blythe of the American Academy of Pediatrics said that there is even evidence that some of these programs, favored by the Bush administration, are "harmful and have negative consequences."

Senior U.S. officials are expected to tell lawmakers that "a video taken inside a secret Syrian facility last summer convinced the Israeli government and the Bush administration that North Korea was helping to construct a reactor similar to one that produces plutonium for North Korea's nuclear arsenal." The video "played a pivotal role in Israel's decision to bomb the facility late at night last Sept. 6."

"Atmospheric levels of the principal heat-trapping gas, carbon dioxide, are continuing to rise at an accelerating rate," according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "After a decade of stability, levels of an even more potent heat-trapper, methane," have risen as well. Both gases increased due to "the burning of fossil fuels."

The congressional leadership offices employ "full-time staffers who serve as liaisons to the political blogging world." CQ writes that "the largest such operation" may be in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office. Also, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) "has been following the bloggers for a few years now and has actually written a number of his own blog posts."

And finally: On Tuesday, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman spoke at Brown University about responding to climate change. However, not everyone liked his speech. A few seconds into his address, "environmental activists...stormed the stage" and began "tossing two paper plates loaded with shamrock-colored whipped cream at him. Friedman ducked, and was left with only minor streams of the sugary green goo on his black pants and turtleneck."

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Yesterday the House voted "to block the Bush administration from cutting federal spending on Medicaid health care for the poor by $13 billion over the next five years." "President Bush has threatened a veto, but supporters have more than enough votes to override him in the House, and maybe in the Senate, too."

MISSOURI: "A voting rights group sued the state Wednesday, alleging that it was not following federal law requiring it to help low-income or disabled people register to vote."

ALASKA: Gov. Sarah Palin (R) rejects a call "to add abortion to the agenda of an upcoming special legislative session."

FLORIDA: Lawmakers agree to spend $300 million to preserve two health care programs serving more than 40,000 sick and disabled people.

THINK PROGRESS: Sixty percent of staff at the Environmental Protection Agency have "personally experienced" "political interference."

WONK ROOM: Now that he's been nominated to head Centcom, Gen. Petraeus must answer the question he dodged.

ATTACKERMAN: Documents released through the Freedom of Information Act place the culpability for torture on the highest levels of the Bush administration, not the interrogators.

CATO AT LIBERTY: Arab public opinion shows that views of America are overwhelmingly based on American policies, not values.

"Public opinion of the [Iraq] war effort eroded when we were losing the war on the ground. Now that we're making progress, public support has rebounded."
-- Conservative commentator Max Boot, 4/23/08

VERSUS

"In this poll, 64 percent of Americans said the war was not worth fighting. ... It been a steady majority for nearly 3½ years, and opposition is more intense, with strong opponents of the war outnumbering strong supporters by 2-1."
-- ABC News, 4/17/08

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