Mayors of largest U.S. cities in lockstep to fight coal

[one...two...tree 2,762]

America’s mayors are picking up arms against the coal industry.

The philanthropic foundation of New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg announced last week that it will commit $50 million over four years to the Sierra Club in a campaign to retire coal for cleaner sources of energy.

The grant will help retire a third of the nation’s aging coal fleet by 2020, the organization says.

Coal is the leading source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. It’s polluting, it’s dirty, and its use carries an array of health hazards — from asthma to birth defects to cancer — that is estimated to cost $100 billion in healthcare costs each year.

Enter the mayor of America’s most populous city. Following in the footsteps of the mayor of another major U.S. city — Antonio Villaraigosa, of Los Angeles, who promises a coal-free city by 2013 — Bloomberg is striking out against coal, calling it a “self-inflicted public health risk.”

“If we are going to get serious about reducing our carbon footprint in the United States, we have to get serious about coal,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “Ending coal power production is the right thing to do, because, while it may seem to be an inexpensive energy source, the impact on our environment and the impact on public health is significant.”

The money goes toward the Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” campaign, which works to close coal-fired power plants. It certainly doesn’t hurt that the cost of coal is increasing at the same time that the cost of renewables is decreasing, making the 19th-century technology less favorable as the nation enacts policy favorable for the 21st.

(For many utilities, it’s more cost-effective to close a plant outright than apply pollution-reduction equipment to meet regulations.)

It’s not just the coasts that are on board with fighting coal, either: Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel yesterday unveiled that his administration was working on an ordinance to urge coal-fired plants in the area shut down or convert to cleaner-burning natural gas, again citing health costs.

Meanwhile, Houston mayor Annise Parker in April took a longer look at a proposed plant in her city, citing environmental damage as a risk.

And it certainly doesn’t help that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency earlier this month took a tougher stance on coal pollution with its Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, effectively dooming the nation’s oldest coal-powered facilities.

http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/smart-takes/mayors-of-largest-us-cities-in-lockstep-to-fight-coal/18032

[Obama 2012 1,714]

idiots.

[peejay 327]

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg

Antonio Villaraigosa, of Los Angeles

Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel

Houston mayor Annise Parker

All Left wing Liberals. Any surprises?

So how do these engineering geniuses propose to produce reliable electricity that compares competitively with coal fired plants? Or do they just expect the public to suck it up and just pay more for electricity?

Natural Gas? The Lefties already hate the oil companies that produce it and don't want to drill. Nukes? They hate that even worst.

Too bad wind and solar can't do the job. So what do these experts in science and engineering that happen to be mayors plan on doing? Besides bloviating.

[lostinblue 1,989]

“A.E.P. Protests Too Much” (editorial, June 20) , calling American Electric Power cynical, was dismissive of the 600 A.E.P. workers who stand to lose their jobs years ahead of schedule because of the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed regulations. While a few more years on the job may not seem like much to you, I am sure that the 600 workers and their families feel differently.

A.E.P. and its workers are not alone in their struggle. According to a recent initial National Economic Research Associates analysis, two of E.P.A.’s proposed regulations would increase the cost of energy by up to 24 percent in parts of the country, and could destroy significant numbers of jobs.

There is a reason coal generates nearly half of our nation’s electricity: because it’s affordable, abundant, reliable and increasingly clean. We need energy policies that take advantage of coal’s importance to the United States, not diminish it.

STEVE MILLER

President and Chief Executive

American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity

Alexandria, Va., June 21, 2011

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/27/opinion/lweb27coal.html?_r=2

[lostinblue 1,989]

"It’s not just the coasts that are on board with fighting coal, either: Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel yesterday unveiled that his administration was working on an ordinance to urge coal-fired plants in the area shut down or convert to cleaner-burning natural gas, again citing health costs."

Governor Andrew Cuomo won't give up on his obsessive quest

An unstoppable force has crashed into an immovable barrier in New York. Mayor Michael Bloomberg (right) in late June went public with blistering criticism that rivals the city's summer heat that can fry eggs on the sidewalk.

He told anyone in the news media who cared to listen, "If you close Indian Point today, we'd have enormous blackouts." The twin nuclear reactors supply about 25% of the electricity used in the metro area.

Yet, a week later an aide to Gov. Andrew Cumo told the New York Times that the Mayor's views, and a report by Charles Rivers Associates that supports them, would not deter plans to seek closure of the reactors a in 2013 and 2015.

Mayor Bloomberg added as far as he can see "there is no alternative to the amount of energy we get from Indian Point." He added that closing the reactors when their licenses expire "would be detrimental to New York."

In round numbers, if Indian Point is closed, wholesale electricity prices could rise by 12%. Nuclear energy is the lowest cost source of electricity in New York. Eliminating the reactors defaults to higher priced coal and natural gas based electricity generation. It will also lead to higher greenhouse gas emissions.

Wind turbines, which are touted by organization like Riverkeeper, which supports Cuomo's drive to close the reactors, cannot deliver their power to New York city from their upstate locations because the grid is already at capacity.

The result will be more power failures, and not just brownouts, but total blackouts. Industry experts told the New York Times the path to building new power grids could take more than five years.

"Gas drilling near upstate reservoirs imperils our water, Mayor Bloomberg says

BY KATHLEEN LUCADAMO

DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU

Thursday, December 24, 2009

The Bloomberg administration demanded a ban on natural gas drilling near upstate reservoirs Wednesday, saying it would pose "unacceptable risks" to the city's drinking water.

Drilling for gas in the watershed could leak toxic chemicals into drinking water, causing unknown health risks, a report by the city Department of Environmental Protection said.

To combat contamination, officials contend they would need to build a giant water filtration system that would cost $10 billion to build and $100 million a year to run."

What are the libatards going to do when there is no energy going into bankrupt ny state?

Shut down the coal mines, ban fracking, close nuke plants...and tax people out of ny state.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is donating $50 million to the Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” campaign. The campaign’s aim is to stop the construction of new coal-burning power plants and to shut down—or to use the more polite term “phase out”—up to a third of the coal plants now in operation.

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/07/bloomberg-coal-sierra-club.html#ixzz1TgzJVG3f

[one...two...tree 2,762]

It's not obvious that you are a shill for the coal industry.

[lostinblue 1,989]

It's not obvious that you are a shill for the coal industry.

throw a communist out the window and he comes in the front door as an environmentalist

[Ban Hammer 13,491]

Natural Gas? The Lefties already hate the oil companies that produce it and don't want to drill. Nukes? They hate that even worst.

but t boone pickens approves of this plan!

[lostinblue 1,989]

but t boone pickens approves of this plan!

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband invested between $50,000 and $100,000 in T. Boone Pickens's Clean Energy Fuels Corp., which could benefit from legislation the California Democrat favors to boost U.S. use of natural gas.

Drew Hammill, a spokesman for Mrs. Pelosi, said the investment "does not raise any direct conflict-of-interest issues" or violate any ethics rules of the House of Representatives.