‘Clean coal’ concept is just a sorry P.R. stunt
“We love clean, beautiful West Virginia coal,” President Donald Trump told his base at a rally in Charleston Monday night.
Just so you know, there is, currently, no such thing as clean coal, not on any commercial scale.
Whether bituminous or anthracite, coal is a very dirty fuel because it is virtually pure carbon.
“Clean coal” refers to a technology to significantly reduce the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases produced by the burning of coal, either by turning it into gas prior to burning or capturing and “sequestering” the pollutants after burning by injecting them into suitable ground formations.
Electricity companies and governments around the world have tried to develop clean coal technology but it has proved to be too expensive and complicated and those efforts are mostly over.
Just last year, Mississippi Power had to shelve the biggest such project in the U.S., the Kemper County, Miss., gasification plant and convert it to natural gas, defeated by overly complex technology and a $7 billion price tag.
But mainly the clean coal movement has been put to bed by the marketplace: the rise of cheap natural gas and the refusal of banks to finance new coal plants.
Over the last eight years, 187 coal-powered plants have closed or converted to natural gas, including six plants in Pennsylvania, according to the Sierra Club.
Locally, the Eddystone Generating Station retired its two coal-burning units in 2011-2012 and now burns natural gas and oil.
So the president’s latest ploy to prop up the coal industry – the “Affordable Clean Energy Rule” – just announced by the Environmental Protection Agency, is little more than a P.R. stunt and sop to the GOP’s fossil fuel industry donors.
And a sorry P.R. stunt it is, no matter how many times Trump goes to West Virginia and preens before adoring crowds of coal miners pining for a passing way of life.
Only about 50,000 coal mining jobs remain in the U.S., compared to more than
3 million jobs in the renewable energy sector, according to Trump’s own Department of Energy.
The “Affordable” rule is meant to replace former President Barack Obama’s “Clean Power Plan,” the centerpiece of America’s climate change initiative to reduce carbon emissions by 32 percent below 2005 levels by
2030.
Here’s a startling statistic: Carbon dioxide emission levels have already dropped 28 percent below 2005 levels, 12 years ahead of the “Clean” initiative, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Trump’s EPA is not concerned with climate change or public health.
It admitted that the proposed “Affordable” rule would increase emissions of carbon dioxide, Sulphur dioxide, and particulates, likely causing an additional
1,400 premature deaths per year from diseases such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, black lung and heart disease by 2030.
Let me repeat, the EPA, protector of our environment, admits that.
Columnist
Obama’s “Clean” plan was never implemented because it was tied up in court battles, but if it had been, Harvard University researchers estimated it would have prevented as many as 3,600 such deaths annually by 2025.
So combined, 1,400 more deaths and 3,600 deaths not prevented annually adds up to about 5,000 unnecessary premature deaths per year over the status quo if Trump’s plan is ever fully implemented.
That’s like Trump going out on 5th Avenue in New York and not just shooting one person but mowing down hundreds at a time. Not good P.R.
In addition, Obama’s “Clean” rule would have resulted in 180,000 fewer missed school days caused by asthma attacks, while the new rule will result in 48,000 new cases of asthma and 21,000 more missed school days.
The “Affordable” rule also features letting the coal-producing states and those having coal-powered plants regulate the industry.
That is, the coal barons and corporations who control the state governments, can “regulate” themselves.
This admirable exercise of federalism has a flaw.
Air and water pollution generated by the coal industry does not respect state lines.
Toxic coal ash will continue to spill into rivers, arsenic from coal production will continue to pollute pristine streams, the wind will continue to carry air pollutants to states east or west and bad air quality days will continue to mount.
But maybe we don’t need to be too worried.
The EPA’s new coal rules, its relaxed oil drilling regulations (drill everywhere) and its freeze on automobile CAFE standards must go through a lengthy process, including public comment, before they can be enacted.
Once the new rules are enacted, the lawsuits will start, further delaying implementation of any new rules, just as they did for many Obama-era regulations. Maybe by then Trump will be gone and life will go on.
But still, Trump has grandchildren, his supporters have grandchildren, and they must breathe the same air and drink the same water as the rest of us.
Are a few dollars from bankrupt coal barons and a few more jobs in a dying industry worth that much to them?
Jodine Mayberry is a retired editor, longtime journalist and Delaware County resident. Her column appears every Friday. You can reach her at jodinemayberry@ comcast.net.