FYI, club talking points on Coal. regards, paul
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Ginny Cramer Virginia.Cramer@sierraclub.org Date: Jan 17, 2008 5:40 PM Subject: Re: let's work on our message strategy To: COAL-CAMPAIGN-FORUM@lists.sierraclub.org
These talking points on coal were agreed to several months ago and are the authorized talking points for speaking on the record. These can also be found on our coal page on Clubhouse.
- Ginny ____________ Virginia Cramer Associate Press Secretary Sierra Club tel: 202.675.6279 fax: 202.547.6009
*Lay of the Land*
Since the first coal-fired power plant in the U.S. started generating electricity more than 100 years ago, we have been wedded to coal power. Today coal-fired power plants provide almost half of our nation's power- and almost 40 percent of the United States' annual carbon dioxide emissions, making them a major contributor to global warming.
Scientists tell us that we need to reduce our global warming emissions 80% by 2050- a doable 2% a year- to avoid the worst consequences of global warming. Yet as recently as May, there were plans on the drawing board to construct as many as 150 new coal-fired power plants, all emitting as much global warming pollution as old plants- and all on a frenzied timeline in hope of escaping carbon regulations that will soon cause the cost of coal to jump dramatically.
Months later, global warming and America's energy sector are shaping the legislative and political debate, affecting capital markets and influencing business and investor decisions. Many of the proposed plants have been blocked by court action and public and political pressure, and Citigroup downgraded the financial outlook for coal stocks in 2008 based on "grim" future earnings.
At the same time the green business movement has taken off, with the marketplace topping more than $228 billion in the United States. Renewable energy stocks are becoming hot commodities. For example shares of the Danish company, Vesta Wind Systems—the world's largest maker of wind turbines—have doubled in the past year and their profits have jumped five-fold in the last quarter. Venture capitalists are calling green energy the biggest financial opportunity since the post Civil War era, when industrial energy first emerged.
*General*
-Instead of rushing to build new coal-fired power plants*, *we need to slow down. We owe it to our children to consider smarter, cleaner, healthier options for meeting our energy needs rather than locking ourselves into using a polluting, backward technology for the next 50 years that triggers childhood asthma and makes global warming much worse. -Before we commit to building new plants, we should start by solving the problems we already have. And that means cleaning up those old dirty plants that are the worst contributors to global warming, smog, acid rain, and respiratory problems. -Any new coal-fired power plants that are built should be as clean, safe, technologically advanced and efficient as possible. -Coal should be mined responsibly and burned cleanly. Coal projects must not add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
*The True Costs of Coal*
-Using coal costs us progress on combating global warming. The coal industry is deceiving the American public, hiding the fact that the overwhelming majority of the new plants they are in such a rush to build will use the same kind of technology that creates the global warming problem we're trying to solve now. The carbon these proposed new power plants will add to the atmosphere will cancel out steps states, businesses and other countries are taking now to curb global warming. -The true costs of coal begin long before it's burned and releases global warming pollution into our air. Digging for coal destroys our mountains and landscapes with destructive mining practices and jeopardizes communities' drinking water, health and safety. -Coal is not cheap and costs are rising fast- costs of new coal plants have skyrocketed 40-100% in the past year. Not only does each coal plant cost upwards of a billion dollars, there are innumerable other costs to society associated with asthma attacks, lung cancer, homes devastated by mining, and wildlife habitat destroyed.
*"Clean" Coal Technologies*
-There is no such thing as "clean" coal. Instead of tying ourselves to the past and investing in new technologies to minimize the impact of dirty coal, we should invest in technologies that further the energy solutions of the future. -Though gasification projects can release less air pollution than pulverized coal, they are still far from being a "clean" energy source. While it may be the case that retrofitting an Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle coal plant for capturing carbon dioxide emissions may be easier in the future, whether or not we can store millions of tons of carbon underground forever is completely untested. Until carbon capture and storage technologies are better developed, the carbon dioxide emissions will be much the same as any other coal plant. -We don't have to choose between the "bad" and the "less-bad" options. We do have better, cheaper, cleaner options. -Coal sequestration is theoretical at best, never having been demonstrated with anything approaching the emissions of a coal-fired power plant. -The development of liquid coal for widespread use will require billions of dollars in investments to artificially create a new industry that will only worsen our global warming problem. -Liquid coal creates almost double the CO2 emissions per gallon as regular gasoline. -Replacing a mere 10% of our fuel with liquid coal will force an over 40% increase in coal mining, increasing the already devastating effects of mining on communities across the country.
*Alternatives*
- The simplest, most effective way to meet our growing energy needs is to increase our use of efficiency. By increasing efficiency we can dramatically reduce the amount of energy needed-- making new coal plants unnecessary and saving consumers, businesses, and industry money. -The best efficiency programs today can provide energy at less than half the cost of wholesale power. -The amount of energy we waste is equal to the amount of energy that could be generated from our supply of coal. Using energy that we now waste could meet our needs without tapping into our coal reserve. -We can expand our energy choices beyond the limited, unhealthy options of the past. There are alternatives to coal that can meet our energy needs and save us money while boosting the economy, improving public health and combating global warming. (*The Sierra Club has outlined how to achieve this with its new global warming strategy*) -Coal is a short-term solution to a long-term problem. We need to wean ourselves from our reliance on a limited supply of fossil fuels if we truly want a clean, healthy, and secure energy future. -Diverting investments away from new coal and into clean energy is good for the environment and the economy. Renewable energy generates 40% more jobs per dollar invested than coal and the cost of meeting our energy needs through efficiency is as little as half the cost of new coal-fired power plants.