Written by Danny Chiotos:
I’m sitting here in the West Virginia Statehouse in a mix of environmentalists, lobbyists, young people, state delegates, state senators, and a good mix of others at a press conference that is set to the (incidental) background of a middle school band playing steel drums and brass. The music gives a kind of air of importance and urgency, that is very real, to what the speakers are highlighting. The West Virginia Environmental Council is releasing our outline for a WV Citizens’ Energy Plan in response to Governor Manchin’s coal energy plan. The governor’s plan calls for not 1 not 2 not even 3 - but 5!!!! coal-to-liquids plants in our state.
The plan calls for clean coal technology, coal-bed methane, and gives only lip service to renewables - with NO plan for the implementation of wind and solar. We need a clean & just energy future for the state of WV. The governor has also been hinting that he wants to use renewable energy potential as a way to speed up approval Mountain Top Removal proposals. (Claiming that we need the flat space for renewable energy, when less than 5% of MTR sites have been used for any development).This is a powerful group of people speaking on the need to transition away from coal & towards renewables. WV will see justice!
Early in the presentation Don Garvin, MC-ing the event, gives congratulations and thanks for the increasing organization of WV students around energy justice issues. Dana Kuhnline of the Student Environmental Action Coalition is sitting at the table with a strong coalition of WV environmental groups and is speaking today on the need for energy justice. Students are standing with community groups and environmental groups here in WV and we are bringing a brighter & more just tomorrow and fighting injustice today.
Here in a coal state like WV, coal is still king of our statehouse and government - we are breaking ranks and speaking with people who are directly affected by mountaintop removal, coal slurry, union-busting, and other harms of the coal industry.Vickie Wolfe, speaking for the WV Environmental Council is speaking on the three four points that this Citizens Energy Plan is aiming towards: 1) reducing greenhouse gas emission; 2) growing sustainable jobs; 3) reducing imported oil; 4) conserving resources/water. WV needs a renewable portfolio standard to garuantee a market for renewable energies & to require electric utilities to purchase electricity from renewable sources.More delegates have come into the room and there is standing room only in the back even as the second speaker, Delegate Barbara Flieschaur, names off the legislation that she is sponsoring in the House of Delegates:
-establishing a global warming commission
-establishing vehicle emission reductions
-establishing a bottle bill (to provide financial incentives to grow recycling)
-greenbuildings bill (state to set example on energy conservation)
-renewable portfolio standard (target of reducing energy consumption)
Mel Tyree with the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition speaks on the need to address global warming and establish specific targets to reduce our burning of fossil fuels and commit our state to reduce global warming through those targets. Norm Steenstra’s son is speaking on behalf of the WV Surface Owners’ Rights Organization & WV Citizens Action Group. WV SORO is a peoples’ organization that is uniting to act in defense of peoples’ land from natural gas companies around the state. Janice Nease from Coal River Mountain Watch speaks on the governments’ support for coal-to-liquids plants and the need to phase out coal/phase in renewable energy.
As Dana Kuhnline speaking with SEAC gets up the middle school band playing downstairs goes into a burst of sound almost to welcome her to the podium. She speaks on the 70+ WV youths who attended Power Shift, the harm that the coal industry is doing to the people of our state, and the promise that renewable energies can fulfill in keeping people here with sustainable jobs.
“Have you noticed how young people will not be ignored and are making their voices heard?” Don Garvin says and enthusiastic applause follows. People get it, young people are taking action and we are growing our power.
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The green energy people in WV cant agree on anything. Case in point, Wv highlands conservency’s opposition to wind farms in Greenbrier county and northern WV, while members of the coal river Mt. watch fight with anti-wind coalitions from greenbrier county and other areas in wv and other states!
You movement cant agree on the color of the sky , much less a “green energy” plan for wv. I work in a coal related field and I support the proposed wind farms in Wv. What the hell is their problem?
Yes, yes, Ron, people have different opinions on things, and unfortunately environmentalists don’t have a monopoly on conflict. The problem as I see it is that people in the DC suburbs part of WV shouldn’t have to look at windmills because it hurts their eyes I guess.
While poor Appalachian folk in Southwestern West Virginia can be killed to keep the coal coming cheap. The difference is people who put “viewshed” before “human life.” But if you really want to see 10 pounds of sh*t in a 5 pound bag, read this below…
http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=33668
Some of those attending the 35th Annual West Virginia Mining Symposium believe the new color of coal is green.
Story by Paul Darst
CHARLESTON — The new color of coal is green.
At least that’s what some of those attending the 35th Annual West Virginia Mining Symposium in Charleston Jan. 9-11 said they believe. The symposium, which was sponsored by the West Virginia Coal Association, featured state and national officials. “We must be more pro-active and not act only as naysayers or critics (about climate change),” said Jim Roberts, chairman of the board of the National Mining Association and chairman, president and CEO of Foundation Coal Holdings Inc. “We are on the right side of the debate.”
Roberts said that by 2030, the United States would need 40 percent more power than it does today. Most of that power will come from coal, he said. Concerns about carbon emissions and other environmental issues can be addressed with the use of advanced technology, Roberts said.
“We support real targets that will reduce CO2 emissions around the globe,” he said. “We support real change.”
Roberts pointed to emerging technologies like carbon sequestration a way to make coal more environmentally friendly.
“Technology is the answer to climate change,” Roberts said.
Roberts pointed to a Standard & Poor’s report that predicts that coal will be a major fuel for producing electricity for the foreseeable future.
And the demand for electricity will continue to grow as well. In 2010, the world is predicted to need 9 billion kilowatts of electricity, said Kenneth Nemeth, executive director of the Southern States Energy Board, who also addressed the symposium. By 2030, world electrical need will be 31 billion kilowatts, he said.
And coal will be what produces most of that energy, he said. By 2030, coal will produce 74 percent more electricity than it does today. Other methods of production likely will increase as well: Oil by 43 percent, natural gas by 64 percent and nuclear by 30 percent.
Despite those forecasts, however, more and more states are blocking construction of new coal-burning power plants, Nemeth said.
“We’re not utilizing coal,” he said. “We’ve spent $100 billion defending the Persian Gulf the last nine months while we’ve seen the erosion of the U.S. industrial base. We have record trade deficits. We’re sending $1 billion a day out of the U.S. Every time we buy gas, we’re sending money to Third World nations that don’t like us.
“We can’t win a war when we’re funding both sides of it.”
One speaker who said he is intimately familiar with the energy security needs of the country was U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. One part of the solution, he said, would be coal- to-liquid technology.
“The costs are major,” Rockefeller said. “We need a federal government investment that we haven’t seen since the Manhattan Project.”
The government, he said, should fund the project so industry doesn’t have to foot the bill and pass the costs along to consumer. Rockefeller said he believes it can be done in 5 to 7 years.
“It flat out can be done,” he said.
Rockefeller said he now is working on a bill that would establish the Future Fuels Corp., which would be a vehicle for such a project.
But at this time, the future of coal looks bleak, said Kevin Cruchfield, president and director of ALPHA Natural Resources Inc.
“Climate change legislation is likely, but not until after the presidential election,” he said. “Central Appalachian basin (coal) is on a … Gaussian slope and there’s not much we can do about it.”
One reason is because of regulatory and legal constraints, Crutchfield said. He pointed out that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued eight Section 404 (Clean Water Act) permits in 2007. They issued 30 to 40 the previous year. The issuance of so few permits this past year has created a large backlog.
“The backlog will affect production in 2009,” he said.