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Coal News

7, 2008: Grist.com
This One's for Mom Earth
The Sierra Club is planning lawsuits to halt construction of coal plants in seven states, arguing that the mercury-spewing plants violate the Clean Air Act. Noting that a federal appeals court ruled in February that the Bush administration's mercury regulations were too lax, the green group seeks to require the coal plants to get new state permits meeting tougher emissions standards. "We want to give moms across the country some peace of mind this Mother's Day," says Bruce Nilles of the Sierra Club. "That's why we're taking action ... to ensure that these coal plants make every effort to keep their toxic mercury pollution out of our communities."

6, 2008: The Charlotte Observer
Groups: Stop Cliffside or face lawsuit
Four environmental groups said today they will sue Duke Energy unless the company stops "illegal" construction at its Cliffside power plant.

6, 2008: Reuters
Burnett said he was most proud of EPA's work responding to the Supreme Court opinion
The Sierra Club sent letters on Tuesday threatening to file suit to stop construction of eight coal-fired power plants in six states because, the environmental group claims, they violate the Clean Air Act. "This is the first major ramification on the ground from the (Washington) D.C. circuit kicking out the Bush administration's rules in February," said Bruce Nilles, director of the Sierra Club's effort to stop coal power plants.

6, 2008: Las Vegas Sun
Planned coal plant gives up its water source
A canceled contract for water could signal trouble for a coal-fired power plant planned for the Mesquite area.

5, 2008: Houston Chronicle
Illinois lawmakers try to keep FutureGen alive
Illinois' congressional delegation is searching for ways to keep the FutureGen clean-coal power plant once planned for central Illinois alive until a new president takes office in January. Sen. Dick Durbin has exercised the first of a limited set of options, threatening to block White House appointments to the U.S. Department of Energy while looking for a way to pass legislation to keep the project afloat.

3, 2008: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Plan calls for storing CO2 beneath Pa.'s public forests
Pennsylvania's publicly owned forest lands could be used for the underground storage of carbon dioxide captured from coal-burning power plants and other industrial sources of the greenhouse gas that is a major cause of global climate change. The process -- which is not yet commercially feasible -- involves capturing carbon emissions from a facility's smokestack, compressing the gases into a liquid and then pumping it at least a half mile underground.

28, 2008: ClimateWire
Md. governor signs landmark energy efficiency law
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) last week signed a law to reduce statewide energy use by 15 percent per capita by 2015, making Maryland the first state in the country to legislate individual changes in energy use.

26, 2008: The Herald News
Brayton Point: Energy author expects coal peak production in 2040
People in the coal-fired power plant business believe that there is more than 250 years worth of coal production left in U.S. mines. What if they’re wrong? Richard Heinberg thinks they are. Author of eight books about energy, Heinberg thinks the end of domestic and world coal supplies may be coming a lot sooner.

24, 2008: Science Daily
Autism Risk Linked To Distance From Power Plants, Other Mercury-releasing Sources
A newly published study of Texas school district data and industrial mercury-release data, conducted by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, indeed shows a statistically significant link between pounds of industrial release of mercury and increased autism rates. It also shows—for the first time in scientific literature—a statistically significant association between autism risk and distance from the mercury source.

22, 2008: The Times-Picayune
Entergy plant in Montz to be delayed
Entergy Louisiana, LLC is delaying construction of its Little Gypsy power plant in Montz because additional environmental analysis may be required.

22, 2008: Great Falls Tribune
State orders more study of emissions
The Montana Board of Environmental Review on Monday became the first regulatory body in the nation to call for separate measurement and emissions controls for tiny-particle pollution known as PM 2.5, which is emitted at industrial facilities such as coal-fired power plants.

22, 2008: Centre Daily Times
Indiana Survey: Hoosiers Would Pull Plug on Duke Energy's Proposed Coal-Fired Power Plant in Edwardsport
Survey of 600 Indiana Adults Shows Strong Preference for Clean Energy, More Conservation & Energy-Efficiency; About 6 in 10 State Residents Would Be More Likely to Support Political Candidate Who Opposes Edwardsport Plant

22, 2008: Bristol Herald Courier
Law Center Appealing Commission's Ruling on Power Plant
The Southern Environmental Law Center, based in Charlottesville, is representing several groups opposed to the plant, including Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, Appalachian Voices, the Sierra Club and the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. SELC attorney Cale Jaffe said on Monday the organization plans to argue that the state law the SCC used in granting the certificate of need violates the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. The law – approved by the Virginia General Assembly in 2004 – stated that building a coal-fired power plant in Virginia’s coalfields is in the best interest of the public. The SCC normally makes that determination. In its ruling, the SCC said the legislature made consideration of best public interest moot in the Dominion plant’s case. Jaffe said the SCC ruling should be overturned because it is basically void.

20, 2008: Bristol Herald Courier
Pondering Coal's Future: Even State Regulators Are Uncertain
Virginia State Corporation Commission regulators are sending mixed messages about the future of coal-fired power plants. The SCC is on record in support of a coal-burning plant in Wise County. But it refused to give its approval to a new coal gasification plant in West Virginia – one that would actually meet the electrical needs of Southwest Virginians. There is an explanation. Virginia lawmakers removed most regulatory hurdles for Dominion Virginia Power’s Wise County plant. The West Virginia plant (an Appalachian Power Co. project) enjoys no such legislative leg up; it has to compete on its merits.

19, 2008: Las Vegas Review-Journal
Scientist: Stop carbon emissions or face ruin
Droughts, more wildfires, hotter and longer summers and more violent storms will plague the desert Southwest if carbon-dioxide pollution continues, a leading climate-change scientist believes.

17, 2008: Illinois Times
Addicted to coal: The battles being waged here will shape the nation’s energy debate
All across Illinois — at town-hall meetings, in federal courts, in the Capitol — battles are raging over coal power, the outcome of which could very well determine the role of the black rock in the nation’s energy future. Illinois is at the heart of the national debate because in no other state have coal interests pushed for more new investment — with critical support from the state’s governmental leaders.

16, 2008: Las Vegas Sun
Scientist wants Gibbons to nix support of coal
The Desert Research Institute will give the medal — a national award for scientific achievement — to renowned climate scientist James Hansen, who will present new research on global climate change before the dinner. Hansen, no stranger to controversy, sent a letter to Gov. Jim Gibbons this week denouncing the governor’s position in support of three coal-fired power plants proposed in Nevada and calling on Gibbons to take meaningful action against climate change.