it's the economy, stupid
Wed May 11 10:27:29 EDT 2016
There's nothing like turning on the radio and hearing something stupid. There's someone on a talk show saying that there's no new coal-fired power plants planned because of government regulations (environmental controls, etc). No - there's no new coal plants planned because fracking has created a glut of cheaper natural gas. I don't know whether I was hearing a guest/panelist or a caller.Competing Political Visions For America's Coal Workers
Yes, environmental concerns (acid rain, particulates) have created opposition to coal for decades, but simple economic competitiveness is a bigger problem for the coal industry now. Gas is cheaper and its emissions are much cleaner. (Carbon dioxide is still a problem for anything we burn.) We may yet decide that the collateral damage from fracking (groundwater pollution, earthquakes) is unacceptable, and coal (or wind/solar/geothermal/tidal/garbage/etc) may become more attractive.
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/812119.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]
There's nothing like turning on the radio and hearing something stupid. There's someone on a talk show saying that there's no new coal-fired power plants planned because of government regulations (environmental controls, etc). No - there's no new coal plants planned because fracking has created a glut of cheaper natural gas. I don't know whether I was hearing a guest/panelist or a caller.Competing Political Visions For America's Coal Workers
Yes, environmental concerns (acid rain, particulates) have created opposition to coal for decades, but simple economic competitiveness is a bigger problem for the coal industry now. Gas is cheaper and its emissions are much cleaner. (Carbon dioxide is still a problem for anything we burn.) We may yet decide that the collateral damage from fracking (groundwater pollution, earthquakes) is unacceptable, and coal (or wind/solar/geothermal/tidal/garbage/etc) may become more attractive.
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/812119.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]