The good and the ugly

Anti-coal activism news

Posted by Erik Hoffner (Guest Contributor) at 3:59 PM on 24 Jan 2008

First, the good: here's a feature story in the new Orion magazine about the tactics and successes of the anti-coal activists who've helped halt, count 'em, 59 new plants, according to author Ted Nace. Ted also gives a huge rundown of links and resources for anti-coal activists.

And the ugly: thanks to Maria Gunnoe's success organizing against mountaintop removal mining as a staff member of grassroots group Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and now her lead role in stopping a "valley fill" in her home town in West Virginia that cost some local jobs, her family has been the target of harassment and threats of violence, to the level that she's had to hire guards for her home and install security cameras. This doesn't come cheaply, and they're accepting donations to help keep her in that house, in that community, and stopping MTR's utter destruction of Appalachia. More here, plus an address to send donations to. The woman is a hero and deserves better.

For story: The good and the ugly
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Well, was gonna post this there, but didn't let me

=But there's a more straightforward objection to IGCC/CSS: cost. The cost of building such plants is expected to be around 40 percent higher than conventional coal plants. And the cost of operating them would also be higher, since huge amounts of power are needed to separate and liquefy carbon dioxide, then pipe and pump it underground--in all, each plant would have to burn about 25 percent more coal to generate the same amount of electricity for market. Once those expenses are totaled up, this way of using coal may end up being more costly than solar thermal power plants or wind turbines backed up by natural gas generators that would make them as reliable as coal plants.=

Oddly, this is actually underestimating the cost of new coal.

Compared to the "China Price", and when factoring in new clean air requirements.

The cost of new coal has tripled from around $1000/KW, all the way up to $3000/KW for new IGCC following the new clear air regs.
http://greyfalcon.net/costlycoal

And up to $6500/KW for IGCC+CCS.
http://greyfalcon.net/costlycoal2

Coal just can't be both cheap and clean at the same time.

But certainly they bring the point home that it's looking to be more costly than solarthermal, geothermal, or wind.
http://greyfalcon.net/solarthermal
http://greyfalcon.net/geothermal
http://greyfalcon.net/wind

But then again, SolarThermal can do molten salt heat storage, and Geothermal needs no backup since it has an uptime comparable to a nuclear power plant.

(Not to mention which, nukes ain't cheap either)
http://greyfalcon.net/h2nuke
http://greyfalcon.net/costlynukes
http://greyfalcon.net/nuclearvideo

by GreyFlcn at 5:23 PM on 24 Jan 2008

Self Defense:

Get a lot or harrasment here also for putting articles in local newspapers. Then again I am 6'6" and weigh 289 and Ky. is a concealed carry state. I will get more heat for trying to stop a new Mountain Top Removal on Army Corps of Engineers Project. Fishtrap Dam in Pike County ky. permit issured to one Clintwood Elkhorn coal company to strip mine a 6000 feet stream area that runs into the lake. I have wrote and emailed several Corps personnel. Don't know how you can call it a flood control project when the Corps has allowed constant stripping on the watershed since the early 70's. Devistating flood in 1977, the dam failed to fulfill is mission at flood control. Millions of dollars in damage in communities below the dam. 30 years of stripping the watershed and if we get another 77 type flood it will be catastrophic. I will accept any advise on how to get a Federal entity, the Army Corps of Engineers to stop strip mining on a federal controlled flood project. From the looks of the topoghraphy and from former jobs on that property that are ongoing I will bet this will be a mountain top removal and valley fill. Sherwood Forest up there, locked down tight, can't even get my ATV in to take pictures anymore. How can this be, mini New Orleans in the making, if you call two small towns and several communities down stream on the Big Sandy River little.

The eons of time and nature was good to us down here. It was not until we become civilized that destroying our habitat become fathomable or fashionable.

by Pompey Road at 8:12 PM on 24 Jan 2008

59 Coal Plants cancelled in 2007

Here are some more resources on the 59 plants cancelled or abandoned in 2007, as well as the approximately 115 plants still in the pipeline:

http://cmnow.org/59plants.pdf
List of cancelled plants, footnotes, analysis.

http://coalSwarm.org
Descriptions of approximately 200 proposed coal plants (including cancelled plants)

http://cmNOW.org
Tables and spreadsheets with descriptions of cancelled plants, and breakdowns by type of utility, utility region, and year projected in service

Help build coalSwarm-- a shared informational resource on coal and alternatives to coal.

by Ted Nace at 8:12 PM on 24 Jan 2008

Google Earth:

I almost forgot download google earth and then type in Fishtrap Dam Pike County Kentucky. From the spillway, parking lot area follow the dam all the way back to its headwaters and a littl beyond. As you follow the mountain lake pan from side to side and look at all the Coal Strip jobs in the watershed area of the lake. This is an Army Corps of Engineer constructed and maintained facility. Even from space you can see the flagrant destruction of the watershed and the environment. Your Federal Tax dollars at work. Will not let you view to the same quality of major cities but even with the higher altitude shots you can see and imigine the damage to this once pristine land. My family come to this land in about the 1790's, all had to move off the land when the Fishtrap Dam was built. I live right across from the parking lot area across the mountain from the dam. I have a mountain top removal behind me. I get to study my subject up close, live right down here where it is done. May be onto something here, may have to share this on other environmental sites. Feel free to do so.

The eons of time and nature was good to us down here. It was not until we become civilized that destroying our habitat become fathomable or fashionable.

by Pompey Road at 8:33 PM on 24 Jan 2008
[ Parent ]

MTR web tool

Here's an eye-opening web tool that shows your direct connection to mountaintop removal: just plug in your zip code and you get a map which shows what coal plants supply your home with power, and what mines those plants get their coal from:

http://ilovemountains.org/myconnection/

My zip code gets coal from the following mine:

Scott's Branch Mine
Coal Source: Mountaintop Removal
Location: 93 PICKETT LANE DEBORD, KY 41653
Operator: LCC Kentucky LLC
Controller:International Coal Group Inc (ICG)

Yuck.

Erik

The Orion Grassroots Network: 1,200+ grassroots groups working for conservation & more

by Erik Hoffner at 6:41 AM on 25 Jan 2008

ADVERTISING POLICY

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