Comments on: Huge Legal Ruling Blocks All US Coal Development

By: fasthorses

fasthorses — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 04:04:28 +0000

A LITTLE BIT OF NEGATIVITY IN THE CELEBRATION! You must all be millionaires! Wonderful ruling? 60% of US electric power is coal fired. Maybe wind or nuclear is the long term answer, but in the mean time I guess we suffer either “out of site” electric bills in order to finance compliance or in the alternative as plants are shut down, perhaps we join the dark ages, brown outs etc. Why not put all the “energy” into developing alternative power while we can still afford/have lights to shine on the engineering plans? Oh, and what about all the poor guys and gals who will lose their jobs? Sorry for the negativity but I see it as a false win.

By: Commodities Broker | Breaking News: EPA Ruling - Coal Plants Must Limit CO2? | Commodities Options | Commodities Futures | Commodities Prices

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 10:32:22 +0000

[...] Huge Legal Ruling Blocks US Coal Development The ruling in the Bonanza coal plant permitting case (pdf) ruled with the Club’s lawyers that [...]

By: TonyfromOz

TonyfromOz — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 23:43:51 +0000

I’m just wondering. With the US delicately balanced regarding electricity supply/demand, with no new large plants of any type on the horizon just what will happen when those coal fired plants start closing if bean counters decide it’s easier to shut up shop than keep producing electrical power. The US burns 1.06 Billion tons of coal every year to produce 50% of its total power. At 2.86 tons of CO2 per ton of coal burnt, the CO2 emission just from that alone is 3.03 BILLION tons each and every year. A new tax on those coal fired power plants will see an increase on your power bill of between 50 and 60%. Take out you last bill and look at how much you paid, and then add that extra. Any replacement plants are at least ten years off into the future at best estimates, considering they also have to go through the legal hoops to get plants up and running too. Those replacement costs are also immense, and the consumer will pay for that too. It’s great to say let’s replace coal, but you just can’t turn off the power with nothing to replace it with.

By: bam. ok, now we push harder « Blogal Views

bam. ok, now we push harder « Blogal Views — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:03:44 +0000

[...] based in Oakland California posted the amazing notification to the climate community that a recent court ruling just delayed the development of the vast majority of remaining proposals for new…- long enough to get new rules together under the Obama administration that will block them [...]

By: Kai Bosworth

Kai Bosworth — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:50:46 +0000

Jason – I was at the PUC evidential hearing on Wednesday. Although I can’t be certain, from my judgment it’s looking pretty good for us. In June, two PUC members voted against the plant, two for it, and the chair said he needed more evidence. They contracted out a study to Boston Pacific, who said that Otter Tail was grossly underestimating the future costs of CO2 regulation. During the hearing, it seemed like the Boston Pacific team was pretty solid and willing to stand up to the coal advocates. I’ll probably make a post about it once we find out something definitive…

By: Rob&Lisa

Rob&Lisa — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:55:16 +0000

GOOD STUFF here in Australia we are also fed up with the filthy coal industry and their coal is so good propaganda.Even if you look at clean coal you can see that it is nothing more than a hoax to get clean coal you would have to be able to mine it clean first.What these morons mean is mine the coal pollute the air with 21 poisonous chemicals 9 of these are cancer causing this info can be found on the npi.gov.au here in Australia then you put in the postcode of your coal town and wella there it is a toxic cocktail for every living thing on the planet to breathe and drink.So dig up coal poison our environment then burn the coal and burry the filth back underground and call it clean coal.Then you have the problem of coal ash dumps which leach cancer causing chemicals back into the underground water table to pollute the last remaining clean drinking water that we have.Coal is nothing more than black lies told a by small minority of people to feed their greed at a cost to us and the planet so again at least it is a leap in the right direction for the future of the world.
I am an experienced anticoal warrior because at the moment they have me surrounded in my home that i created with my own water supplie which i use only what i need my own solar power station and also my own food that i grow these people are nothing more than criminals and thugs and have to be stopped by the people we dont own the earth to trash and burn like these people do.We are caretakers of the planet and that means to take care.

ROB n s w AUSTRALIA

By: Politics in the Zeros. Anti-war, global warming, peak oil, progressive politics » Huge EPA ruling. New coal plants must limit CO2

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:11:44 +0000

[...] Sierra Club sued and won. It appears that this decision will essentially stop all new coal plant permitting dead in its tracks for at least a [...]

By: Jesse Jenkins

Jesse Jenkins — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 08:19:21 +0000

Juliana, I think you are correct: this ruling only directly affects the seven states under direct permitting jurisdiction of the EPA as well as projects on all Native American lands. That’s a total of 30 pending coal plants I believe, so that’s no small beans. Other states that have their own permitting authority do so at delegation of authority form the EPA. So this ruling will certainly give them pause, and will also give legal teams for folks like NRDC, Earthjustice, Sierra Club and local environmental law organizations plenty of reason to contest every single permit out there. I’ll keep my eye out as more legal analysis pops up and keep you all updated. Anyone else with news, post it here.

By: Jason Schaefer

Jason Schaefer — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 07:18:56 +0000

Juliana, any idea what ramifications this will have for Big Stone II in eastern SD. I know it is in the MN PUC’s hands at this point. I had heard the PUC (all members appointed by Gov. Pawlenty) have been moving in a conservative direction and there were some worries that their upcoming decision would not be something we would like. Hopefully this gives them some pause.

By: Juliana Williams

Juliana Williams — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 06:46:23 +0000

My understanding is that this specifically applies to the plants that are under the EPA’s jurisdiction for permitting. There are other permitting entities that may have authority over some of the specific coal plants you all are working to stop, so it doesn’t necessarily mean that they would be halted. However, since most of the other agencies take their cues from the EPA, it’s likely that this will give them pause…which gives us more time to work our magic.