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WASHINGTON — Leading congressional Democrats introduced a bill today that would essentially halt all new coal-fired power plants, including those planned for Nevada.
The bill calls for a moratorium on new plants nationwide that are unable to capture or control their carbon emissions. (You can read stories colleague Phoebe Sweet has written about carbon capture here and here.)
Since technology to capture carbon remains at least a decade or more away, the legislation would essentially ban new plants. More than 100 plants have been proposed nationwide.
The coal companies “are being put on notice that trying to pass off old technology at the last minute as an okay solution to both our energy and global warming problems isn’t going to fly,” said a spokesman for Massachusetts Rep. Edward J. Markey, chairman of the select committee on global warming, who introduced the bill with California Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the powerful government oversight committee. (Sen. John Kerry has introduced similar legislation in the Senate.)
One coal lobbyist called the legislation ill-guided, and said it faced an uphill climb in the House, where Democrats are divided over coal. The bill also would likely be vetoed by President Bush.
However observers see it as a marker as Democrats move toward comprehensive global warming legislation.
The bill would forbid the Environmental Protection Agency or the states from issuing permits for the plants. The moratorium would extend until the federal government established a policy for regulating global warming pollution.
Sounds good. Why is it that Germany can get 20% of their energy from renewable sources and we can't? Is it because their luxury autos are so shiny? Their fantastic selection of beers? Their long grey winter with nothing else to think about? Do tell.
A moratorium on the biggest sector of energy generation that powers our country is like shooting ourselves in the thigh - we'd still be able to walk but probably not very well and in a lot of pain and passing out every now and then.
We can't compare smaller countries to the US in terms of energy generation - that's apples and oranges. Development and growth and automobile purchases in this country have been going gangbusters and will continue to do so. Especially here in the fastest growing state in the country. We can't just cut off power and let growth continue to skyrocket unchecked. It's utterly ridiculous. If "they" want to decrease emissions, then "they" need to go to the source - the demand side of the equation and put a moratorium on growth or mandate any new growth to have strict efficiency and conservation measures to reduce the demand. I would guess that most coal plants in development today are not "old technology" but rather state-of-the art and cannot be built without going through rigorous permitting processes. The bill won't have muster, or at least let's all pray it doesn't otherwise the whole country may have to take turns sitting in the dark because demand will far outweigh supply.
India and China are building cheap and dirty coal power plants as fast as they can. Europe is actually converting many existing natrual gas plants to cheaper coal. So it really doesn't matter much what the U.S. does at this point. The world is screwed as far as global warming is concerned. I think I'll buy some property in Canada for my grandkids. The weather there should be pretty nice in twenty years when they're grown!