Coal News
Citing Global Warming, Kansas Department of Health and Environment Denies Permits to Two Proposed 700MW Coal Plants
October 18, 2007 -- Roderick L. Bremby, Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), announced today that he has denied the air quality permit for the two proposed 700-megawatt generators at the Sunflower Electric Power Corporation plant near Holcomb.
“After careful consideration of my responsibility to protect the public health and environment from actual, threatened or potential harm from air pollution, I have decided to deny the Sunflower Electric Power Corporation application for an air quality permit,” said Bremby.
In making his decision, Bremby cited the authority provided to the Secretary of KDHE in K.S.A. 65-3008 and K.S.A. 65-3008a, which grant him the authority to affirm, modify or reverse a decision on an air quality permit after the public comment period or hearing, and K.S.A. 65-3012, which authorizes him to deny or modify an air quality permit to protect the health of persons or the environment.
“I believe it would be irresponsible to ignore emerging information about the contribution of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to climate change and the potential harm to our environment and health if we do nothing,” said Bremby. More
New York Subpoenas Five Energy Companies
New York Times - September 16, 2007 - Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo of New York has opened an investigation of five large energy companies, questioning whether their plans to build coal-fired power plants pose undisclosed financial risks that their investors should know about. Mr. Cuomo, using the same state securities law wielded by his predecessor, Gov. Eliot Spitzer, to investigate corruption on Wall Street, sent subpoenas late Friday to the top executives of the five companies, seeking internal documents. The companies, which have projects in various states, are AES Corporation, Dominion, Dynegy, Peabody Energy and Xcel Energy.
It is rare, if not unique, for a securities law to be used for an environmental purpose, in this case the fight against new coal-fired power plants. The plants’ main emission, carbon dioxide, has been linked by scientists to global warmingIn letters accompanying the subpoenas, the attorney general’s office asked whether investors received adequate information about the potential financial liabilities of carbon dioxide emissions that exacerbate climate change.
Mr. Cuomo’s move represents a new tactic in an expanding campaign against some of the more than 100 coal-fired power plants currently under consideration.
The nationwide anti-coal effort is being directed by a coalition of environmental groups, shareholder activists and state officials in the Northeast and on the West Coast, including in New York and California. In an interview, Mr. Cuomo said, “The concept here is using the securities laws to investigate whether the economic risks of these plants are being disclosed — the economic risks which are dovetailing with the environmental concerns.”
Read the full New York Times Story
September 17, 2007 - The Denver Post interviewed CEA's Leslie Glustrom about the New York investigation.
Read the Denver Post Story
Jim Hansen calls for moratorium on coal: (Feb 07)
In a speech at the National Press Club on February 26, 2007
Jim Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies at NASA, and a thirty-year observer of changes inthe earth's climate today called for as moratorium on new coal plants and for the destruction of coal plants that do not capture and sequester CO2 emissions.
Dr. James Hansen, today called on all earth's people to answer the climate crisis call by instituting a "moratorium" on the building of new coal plants and bulldozing existing plants that do not capture and permanently store CO2 emissions.
More
Download Jim's PowerPoint here
TXU Buyout leads to cancellation of coal plants: (Feb 07)
The $45 billion dollar purchase of TXU Corp - the biggest ever leveraged buyout - includes plans to cancel 8 of Buyout of TXU includes plans to cancel eight out of eleven coal-fired power plants. The deal included unprecedented negotiations with environmental organizations such as the Natural Resources Defense Counsel.
More (New York Times, Feb 25, 2007)
More (Natural Resources Defense Counsel PR)
Big Coal's Dirty Move: Rolling Stone (January 2007)
Even Rolling Stone is getting into the coal debate with this story about how coal companies are rushing to build 150 new plants, a move author Jeff Goodell likens to "the atmospheric equivalent of a swan dive off a very tall building." More
