Paying to kill ourselves

Just what every taxpayer wants

Posted by David Roberts at 2:14 PM on 14 May 2007

Read more about: energy | greenhouse-gas emissions | placemaking

A Depression-era program to bring electricity to rural areas is using taxpayer money to provide billions of dollars in low-interest loans to build coal plants even as Congress seeks ways to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

...

The beneficiaries of the government's largesse -- the nation's rural electric cooperatives -- plan to spend $35 billion to build conventional coal plants over the next 10 years, enough to offset all state and federal efforts to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions over that time.

Your tax dollars at work!

For story: Paying to kill ourselves
5 Comments | Post a Comment

Explains Merchant Coal

Explains where that Merchant Coal stuff was coming from.

http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2006/08/24/laseur/
http://tomkonrad.wordpress.com/2007/01/20/xcel-fighting-m ...

Build Coal Plant in a rural area, and then sell the electricity to the highest bidder.

Gets you lavish federal subsidies, and the benefit that rural communities don't tend to have tenacious lawyers to fight against you.

Win-Win from their perspective :O

More or less, same issue as with biofuels.
Using a lavish subsidy for one social purpose, to spend it on something entirely different that lacks the social benefit.

-David Ahlport

by GreyFlcn at 2:29 PM on 14 May 2007

Moratorium on new Coal Power

Rather than faffing about with the wonders of alternative vehicles
which the majority of Ameriacans (let alone other peoples)
are never going to afford or afford to fuel under coming resource depletion,

halting the extension of coal firing is surely the prime focus for defensive national action for US activists ?

This needs two qualifications -

defensive - as distinct from progressive, such as advancing sustainable forestry for energy & carbon banking -

national - as distinct from international, such as advancing the policy framework of Contraction & Convergence as the basis of a Treaty of the Atmospheric Commons.

Where are the ENGOs ? Where are the co-ordinators of mass-protest ?

Regards,

Bill

by Billhook at 3:22 AM on 15 May 2007

Thank you, Bill

Just saw this a.m. that Consumers Energy (HQ in Jackson, MI) is of the opinion that it needs to start work on "at least one" 750 MWe coal burner so that it will be on line by 2015 ... no mention of even thinking about the capability for carbon sequestration or turning off their old ones.

The 5% Project

by JMG at 10:06 AM on 15 May 2007

Presidential Positions

John Edwards is opposed to the construction of any more coal-fired power plants.

I wonder what the other candidates positions are on Coal power plants.

Obama. Obviously he's in favor or more coal plants.

How about Hillary?

-David Ahlport

by GreyFlcn at 10:25 AM on 15 May 2007
[ Parent ]

Hillary likes Coal :(

Hillary:
"$3.5 billion in tax incentives and grants to build 5 clean coal plants" http://www.senate.gov/~clinton/news/statements/details.cf ...

Bleh

-David Ahlport

by GreyFlcn at 12:01 PM on 15 May 2007
[ Parent ]

ADVERTISING POLICY

You are not logged in. Thus, you cannot post a comment. If you have an account, log in. If you don't have an account, well, by all means go make one! Meet you back here in five.