The Reality Blog

How’s that for Clean?

Today, the E.P.A. made a major announcement. From the NYT:

The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday formally declared carbon dioxide and five other heat-trapping gases to be pollutants that threaten public health and welfare, setting in motion a process that for the first time in the United States will regulate the gases blamed for global warming.

The E.P.A. said the science supporting its ‘endangerment’ finding was “compelling and overwhelming.” The ruling triggers a 60-day comment period before any proposed regulations governing emissions of greenhouse gases are published.

Lisa P. Jackson, the E.P.A. administrator, said: “This finding confirms that greenhouse gas pollution is a serious problem now and for future generations. Fortunately, it follows President Obama’s call for a low-carbon economy and strong leadership in Congress on clean energy and climate legislation.”

This finding makes official what we already knew: the coal industry’s claims to already be “clean” or “77% cleaner” are a complete farce, because these claims completely ignore industry carbon dioxide emissions, which are now recognized as a dangerous pollutant.

The coal industry hasn’t reduced their CO₂ emissions at all. And until they can safely capture and store these emissions, any claims that coal is “clean” are now — according to both reality AND the U.S. Government — complete lies. We can only hope that ACCCE — the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity — will soon be “scrubbing” all mention of “clean” from their website and name.

Not a moment too soon

A big announcement yesterday from the EPA on regulating coal ash, the incredibly toxic byproduct of burning coal:

The Obama administration will propose new regulations governing coal combustion waste by the end of the year, and will act immediately to prevent accidents like the release in December of more than a billion gallons of coal ash that smothered 300 acres in eastern Tennessee and choked nearby waterways, a senior Environmental Protection Agency official said.

On the heels of this announcement, news of yet another coal ash spill, upriver in Maryland.

Tragic poetry. A gift from our continued dependence on dirty coal electricity.

EPA Decision on Global Warming Pollution Review

Yesterday, the EPA handed the coal industry a pretty serious wake-up call:

The decision could mark the first step toward placing limits on greenhouse gases emitted by coal plants, an issue that has been hotly contested by the coal industry and environmentalists since April 2007, when the Supreme Court ruled that carbon dioxide should be considered a pollutant under the Clean Air Act.

The industry has vigorously opposed efforts to regulate those emissions, asserting that the policy should be set by Congress. Moreover, technology for capturing carbon dioxide emissions is expensive and virtually untested.

Here’s our public statement in support of the EPA’s position:

For immediate release: February 17, 2009

Reality Coalition Statement on EPA Decision to Review Regulation of Global Warming Pollution from Coal Plants

Today’s news that the Environmental Protection Agency will reconsider the regulation of carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants is a positive step towards accounting for the massive and devastating impact that the coal industry is having on our planet.

Today’s action is a wakeup call to the coal industry: live up to your marketing claims and clean up your act. The climate crisis demands that we switch to truly clean carbon-free energy sources once and for all.

Read the full story, and stay tuned for more news and ways to get involved as this story develops.