Tag Archives: Coal

Eliminating the use of coal to generate electricity would be the single biggest step the U.S. could take in meeting its U.N. Paris Climate Agreement GHG emissions reductions goals, according a new study from Portland State University. Accomplishing this would require a wholesale shift in the U.S. power generation mix to "natural gas, efficiency, wind, solar power and biofuels."

This morning, under the cover of “energy independence,” U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for a rewrite of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. The Plan is the cornerstone of U.S. commitment to curbing emissions under the Paris climate agreement, so the rewrite represents a significant rollback of U.S. global warming mitigation as a whole. Unlike the rhetoric surrounding health care, no replacement carbon regulation …

EarthTalk® is a weekly environmental column made available to our readers from the editors of E/The Environmental Magazine Dear EarthTalk: I saw a chart that quantified the negative impacts on our health of our reliance on coal as an energy source. It was pretty shocking as I recall. Can you summarize what we’re dealing with here? – Mitchell Baldwin, Boise, ID Coal combustion plants …

A coalition of 120 organizations has sent a letter to the White House requesting the first-ever federal regulations governing coal ash disposal be strong and comprehensive. The EPA is expected to issue a final proposed rule by December 19.

Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign Marks 179th Coal Plant Retirement In response to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforcement of air quality violations, White Pine Electric Power announced last week its commitment to stop burning coal at its small 60-megawatt power plant in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The plant’s two online units will convert immediately to natural gas. The facility has until 2023 to install best-in-class air pollution control equipment …

“…The public wants coal and must have it.”   Wall Street Journal. Editorial excerpt: September 30, 1902 (from ‘A Journal Sampler,’ July 8, 2014.) It was a time of big industrial growth in big, big cities like Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis, as coal fed the maw of uber expansion. In fact, the latter part of the nineteenth century, provided the grit for monumental …

“Do you know what your coal ash pond is doing tonight?” EarthJustice, via the Freedom of Information Act, pressured the EPA back in 2012 to release the locations of hundreds of previously unknown coal ash dump sites. The latest tally puts the number at nearly 1,400 nationwide. Coal ash. It sounds benign – even perhaps recyclable – something you might spread in the garden …