Ending the coal addiction

(Editors’ note: The following op-ed was originally published in the Financial Times)

Converting rapidly from coal-generated energy to gas is President Barack Obama’s most obvious first step toward saving our planet and jump-starting our economy. A revolution in natural gas production over the past two years has left America awash with natural gas and has made it possible to eliminate most of our dependence on deadly, destructive coal practically overnight – and without the expense of building new power plants.

Whatever the slick campaign financed by the powerful coal barons might claim, coal is neither cheap nor clean. Ozone and particulates from coal plants kill tens of thousands of Americans each year and cause widespread illnesses and disease. Acid rain has destroyed millions of acres of valuable forests and sterilized one in five Adirondack lakes. Neurotoxic mercury raining from these plants has contaminated fish in every state and poisons over a million Americans annually. Coal industry strip mines have already destroyed 500 mountains in Appalachia, buried 2,000 miles of rivers and streams and will soon have flattened an area the size of Delaware. Finally, coal, which supplies 46 percent of our electric power, is the most important source of America’s greenhouse gases.

America’s cornucopia of renewables and the recent maturation of solar, geothermal and wind technologies, will allow us to meet most of our energy needs with clean, cheap, green power. In the short term, natural gas is an obvious bridge fuel to the “new” energy economy.

Since 2007, the discovery of vast supplies of deep shale gas in the U.S., along with advanced extraction methods, have created stable supply and predictably low prices for most of the next century. Of the 1,000 gigawatts of generating capacity currently needed to meet national energy demand, 336 are coal-fired. Surprisingly, America has more gas generation capacity – 450 gigawatts – than it does for coal.

In an instant, this simple change could eliminate three-quarters of America’s coal-burning generators and save a fortune in energy costs. Around 920 U.S. coal plants – 78 percent of the total – are small (generating less than half a gigawatt), antiquated and horrendously inefficient. Their average age is 45 years, with many4

older than 75. They tend to be located amidst dense populations and in poor neighborhoods to lethal effect.

These ancient plants burn 20 percent more coal per megawatt hour than modern large coal units and are 60 to 75 percent less fuel-efficient than combined cycle gas plants. They account for only 21 percent of America’s electric power but almost half the sector’s emissions. Properly assessed, the costs of operation, maintenance, capital improvements and repair of these antiquated facilities make them far more expensive to run than natural gas plants. However, irrational energy-sector pricing structures make it to pass those costs to the public and make choices based exclusively on fuel costs, which in the case of coal appear deceptively cheap because of massive subsidies.

Mothballing or throttling back these plants would mean huge savings to the public and eliminate the need for more than 350m tons of coal, including all 30m tons harvested through mountain-top removal. Their closure would reduce U.S. mercury emissions by 20-25 percent, dramatically cut deadly particulate matter and the pollutants that cause acid rain, and slash America’s CO2 from power plants by 20 percent – an amount greater than the entire reduction envisaged in the first years of the pending climate change legislation at a fraction of the cost.

To quickly gain further economic and environmental advantages, the larger, newer coal plants that remain in operation should be required to co-fire with natural gas. Many of these plants are already connected to gas pipelines and can easily be adapted to burn gas as 15 to 20 percent of their fuel. Such co-firing dramatically reduces forced outages and maintenance costs and can be the most cost effective way to reduce CO2 emissions.

Natural gas comes with its own set of environmental caveats. It is a carbon-based fuel and its extraction from shale, the most significant new source, if not managed carefully, can have serious water, land use and wildlife impacts, especially in the hands of irresponsible producers and lax regulators. But those impacts can be mitigated by careful regulation and are dwarfed by the disaster of coal.

– Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Illegal, unethical and immoral

To the Editors:

The fight against the Health Care Bill is one of greed and power. Ask those who are fighting this bill if they own stock in the pharmaceutical companies. The option of owning a government insurance plan is included as competition to bring down the cost of insurance and drug prices, which are bankrupting the middle class and our country. Get the pen and paper out and let our congressional employees know how you feel about the illegal, unethical and immoral control over our lives. The pen is mighty!

– Evelyn Stacer, Mancos

Presidency in disarray?

Dear Editors,

President Obama is in disarray and heading in many directions, thereby diluting our efforts, our energies and our resources needed to move this country forward.

It seems like Obama is continuously hovering over us on TV, radio and the internet in campaign mode to promote his agenda of large-scale social programs, big government, government control of domestic programs, and the appeasement and enabling of our adversaries.

Obama’s concurrent policies and programs include:

n A stimulus plan that has created on the order of a few hundred thousand jobs, because the recovery plan was poorly designed and concentrated on social welfare programs.  Obama predicted the creation of 3.5 million new jobs by the end of 2010. We will be lucky if 1 to 1.5 million new jobs are created by December 2010.

n A $2 trillion deficit in FY 2010 and annual deficits of $1 trillion for many years thereafter. Our national debt will go from $11.5 trillion now to $24 trillion by 2019.

n Government involvement in private industry with bailouts of automobile makers, AIG and major banks.

n A government run health-care program with more government interference and control.  It could cost $1 trillion, and to help pay for it, Obama proposes to significantly raise taxes on successful individuals and small businesses. The crushing costs could force many small businesses into bankruptcy. And Obama’s health-care opponents are being labeled by the Administration as right wing extremists.

nA $12 billion program for community colleges.

nA cap-and-trade policy that will hurt the economy.

nAlternative energy programs that will only provide 10 to 20 percent of our energy requirements. We need domestic oil and natural gas production and nuclear power.

nFinancial regulatory reforms generating government control of private industry, and some economically unsound programs. Example: The Administration wants the net asset value of money market funds to float up and down from $1 in response to economic conditions. This will kill money market funds and the safe havens investors seek in times of financial uncertainty.

nCompletely exiting Iraq by 2010. This could lead to civil war and more instability in the Middle East.

Significantly ramping up the war in Afghanistan. We will probably have 100,000 troops there within a few years, which will continue a drain on our economy and military. This is Obama’s war.

nA timid response to the Iranian government crackdown and a lackluster response to the development of Iranian nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems.

nA weak response to North Korean belligerence and its development and proliferation of nuclear weapons and long range missiles.

nA proposed new nuclear arms treaty with Russia that will significantly reduce the availability of nuclear weapons/missile delivery systems. This program is being promoted by the Obama Administration in the face of increased availability of nuclear missiles by Communist China, Communist North Korea and Fascist Iran.

nCozying up to and appeasing the dictators of the world. Barack Obama could be the Neville Chamberlain of the 21st century.

President Obama has his fingers in many pies. He has to start prioritizing his policies and programs, and concentrate on focused and rational domestic and global initiatives most crucial to our economy and security. He has to extricate himself from all the gooey pies, overcome his reckless arrogance, and start being a chief executive.

– Donald A. Moskowitz, via e-mail