Posts with the tag coal

Higher Education feeling the heat over coal; students demand an end to dirty fuel on campus

Tristan Fowler — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 22:53:12 EST

Students and environmental groups are demanding that colleges and universities halt the burning of coal on campus, and while some institutions are listening, others see the financial costs as an insurmountable obstacle. The Chronicle of Higher Education excellently reports on the growing demand for clean(er) energy, and explains the cost and difficulties of switching from cheap, reliable coal. For instance, natural gas is expensive and institutions would need to burn larger quantities of wood than coal.

Student groups are organizing through the “Beyond Coal” campaign by the Sierra Club. Beginning in Sept., the campaign gives assistance to more than 60 schools with coal-powered plants located on their campus, by providing sample petitions, templates for letters to the editor and advice.

One year later; No EPA decision on Coal Ash

Tristan Fowler — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:57:24 EST

It’s been a little over a year since an environmental catastrophe 100 times larger than the Exxon-Valdez spill hit a Tennessee town of just over 5,000 people, and the regulations promised to prevent it from occurring again are still being debated. Coal ash – a carcinogenic mixture of heavy metals like arsenic, lead and selenium – spilled over 300 acres, burying fifteen homes and contaminating a river in Kingston, Tenn. Coal or fly ash, which is the waste leftover from burning coal, isn’t defined as a hazardous material and its disposal isn’t regulated by the EPA. During EPA director Lisa Jackson’s senate confirmation hearing last year, she told Senator Barbra Boxer that she’d consider regulating coal ash.

Science: Just say no to mountaintop removal

Tristan Fowler — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 23:08:32 EST

Activists should cheer and politicians should take notice of the article in the Jan. 8 issue of Science (subscription required) on mountaintop coal mining. Twelve scientists found that “mountaintop mining with valley fill permits should not be granted unless new methods can be subjected to rigorous peer review and shown to remedy these problems. Regulators should no longer ignore rigorous science.”

EPA starts clamping down on carbon criminals

Tommaso — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 04:43:48 EDT

After years of neglect, suppressed reports, silenced scientists, and lack of resources, the Environmental Protection Agency is back to doing it's job.

Two years ago the Supreme Court ruled that CO2 was a pollutant and gave the EPA a mandate to establish a system to abate carbon emissions through the Clean Air Act. The Bush administration's EPA dragged its feet and it took an overwhelming progressive electoral victory for the agency to finally comply with the ruling.

Administrator Lisa Jackson announced last week that the Obama Administration will start cracking down on the largest CO2 emitters in the nation and demand that new coal power plants use the best available technology to reduce emissions.

"This rule allows us to do what the Clean Air Act does best – reduce emissions for better health, drive technology innovation for a better economy, and protect the environment for a better future – all without placing an undue burden on the businesses that make up the better part of our economy.” Said Administrator Jackson at the Governors' Global Climate Summit in Los Angeles.

This is a tremendous victory and we commend the EPA, Administrator Jackson, and President Obama for taking this important step towards protecting public health and reducing global carbon pollution.

Maryland students pressure banks to clean up their act!

Tommaso — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 19:02:47 EST

Our guest blogger is Rachel Fauber, Campus Progress Action Grantee and Campaign Director of Towson Energy Activists.

The Towson Energy Activists(TEA) are very proud to have just become part of the Campus Progress community and already have begun working for progressive changes when it comes to the environment. On November 14th, TEA paired with local Baltimore Rising Tide for a coal financers day of action in the financial district of the city. Students, young people and community activists, held huge banners, flyered, chanted and engaged in a mass action of shutting down Bank of America and Citibank accounts (video).

Burning the Future on Film

Tommaso — Wed, 14 May 2008 16:23:12 EDT

If you've been paying any attention to the Presidential primaries, you must have seen the cheerful and hope-ful ads of Americans from Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC) and the new-name-same-story American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity. In these ads you see decent, diverse, hard-working blue collar Americans talking about the solution to all our problems:

CLEAN COAL

Unfortunately, what these people aren't telling you is that burning coal = Burning The Future.

New Focus on Coal

Tommaso — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 12:57:14 EDT

The recent article in the Washington Post about Carbon Capture and Sequestration is a great example of the growing amuont of disinformation on climate solutions permeating public opinion.

The Dream Reborn - Bringing hope to those that need it the most

Tommaso — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 03:55:06 EDT

I wish you all could be here in Memphis with me to celebrate the resurgence of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream.

This conference is a breath-taking expression of youth-driven passion and vision in addressing the climate and social crisis in our world. Change-makers from all states, Canada, Mexico, and more, have been exchanging their successes, frustrations and visions of a movement grounded in hope and sustainability.

If You Hate Mountains…

pdelatorre — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 02:03:23 EDT

Then don’t do anything on the 31st. Otherwise, you should check out the national day of action aimed at pressuring Bank of America to stop helping companies who engage in mountain-top removal.

From the friendly folks at It’s Getting Hot in Here:

Between 2005 and 2007, Bank of America facilitated nearly $1 billion in loans to Massey Energy and Arch Coal, two of the largest companies responsible for the destructive practice of mountaintop removal coal mining. This form of mining literally blasts the tops off of mountains to get at thin seems of coal that lay beneath. Mountaintop removal coal mining has permanently destroyed over 500 square miles of mountains and buried over 1,200 miles of streams in West Virginia alone.