[LINK] Clean Coal

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

Frank writes,

> That said, whilst we are subsidising coal to the extent that we are
> (especially in Australia) we will continue not to get any real or valid
> comparison between different generating and distribution methods, (and)
> so that the myth of 'clean coal' continues.


Agreed. But, while we Australians are both digging up and selling, and
also burning, fossil fuels as much and as fast as we can, the elephant
in our atmosphere is still America.  Except for maybe not selling coal
to China, imho, really, whatever else we do energy-wise is meaningless.

The US, especially the Republican party, is determind to destroy earth.
 
Strangely, they know this. For example this Sunday's NYTimes Editorial:

"As governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney endorsed an aggressive program 
to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, pushed to close old coal-
fired power plants and embraced wind and solar power. 

Then came his bids for the Republican presidential nomination, first in 
2008 and now in 2012. On climate change as on other issues, he has 
transformed himself. 

Today he is a proclaimed skeptic on global warming, a champion of oil and 
other fossil fuels, a critic of federal efforts to develop cleaner energy 
sources and, a sworn enemy of the Environmental Protection Agency. 

Mr. Romney has plainly decided that satisfying his party’s antiregulatory 
base is essential to his political future. 

But the policies he espouses would be devastating for the country and the 
planet. If there are doubts on that point, the most recent findings from 
the International Energy Agency should dispel them: the agency reports an 
alarming one-year increase in global greenhouse gas emissions, largely 
because of increasing coal use around the world.

On coal, the governor once stood in front of a Massachusetts coal-fired 
power plant and said, “that plant kills people.” Recently he whirled 
through Craig, Colo., talking up coal and accusing President Obama of 
making it “harder to get coal out of the ground.” 

On oil and gas, Mr. Romney is wholly in the drill now, drill everywhere 
mode championed by House Republicans. He would open up vulnerable and 
legally protected public lands to drilling. 

Despite his proclaimed belief in a competitive free-enterprise system Mr. 
Romney is determined to maintain the oil’s industry’s preposterous $4 
billion-a-year tax breaks. 

The idea that a politician, especially Mr. Romney, would change his 
positions for political gain won’t surprise anyone. 

But the costs of not getting energy policy right — America’s security, 
its global competitiveness, public health and the health of the planet — 
are much too high for such cynical business as usual." 


Cheers,
Stephen