Over the past several years plans have emerged
to build as many as 150 new coal-fired power
plants across the United States.
This departure
from two decades of shifting to cleaner energy
sources is threatening to derail local, state,
and federal efforts now underway to address climate
change. This backward policy would also dramatically
increase our use of coal, laying waste to communities.
Scientists tell us we need to cut carbon emissions
80% by 2050, starting right away, in order to
fight global warming.
Building this new generation
of plants would add 790 million tons of carbon
dioxide to the atmosphere every year, carrying
us beyond the disastrous tipping point.
Just
two of the largest coal plant proposals would
increase carbon dioxide emissions more than the
emission reductions proposed by the seven Northeast
states from all of their power plants, as part
of their Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).
Simply put, if these plants are built, we will
not be able to achieve the emissions reductions
scientists say we need to avoid the worst effects
of global warming.
These new plants will also have serious implications
for public health. Pollution from coal-fired
power plants already contributes to more than
24,000 premature deaths every year.
Asthma, a
condition which can be caused and is aggravated
by air pollution, has emerged as a national epidemic
affecting 30 million Americans.
And, one in six
U.S. women of childbearing age has levels of
mercury in her blood high enough to put her baby
at risk of developmental and cognitive damage.
Fallout from coal plants is the largest source
of unregulated mercury pollution in the U.S.
Despite claims to the contrary, these proposed
new plants would not replace the existing fleet
of old ones or improve air quality.
We need to solve global warming, protect our
health, and stop destroying our communities. We
need to stop the coal rush and move beyond coal.
Coal plant developers know the window of opportunity
to secure permits and commence construction gets
smaller each month and will likely close within
the next five years.
Many investors have already
realized the benefits of investing in clean energy,
but there are still many who are being swayed
by claims of “clean” coal.
The developers
know that this is a very high-stakes race to
determine the nation’s energy investment
and environmental future.
To move beyond coal, we need smart energy investments,
not polluting and risky coal power.
Numerous
scientific studies addressing both national and
state needs have shown that a combination of
energy efficiency and renewable fuels can readily
meet future energy demand.
We must level the
playing field for these clean energy investments
and spark a new energy economy.
We already have
the technologies to tap into our rich renewable
resources.
Development of geothermal, photovoltaic,
concentrating solar, wind power and ocean power would compete
with coal generated electricity use and transmission
capacity.
We can start immediately to reduce
CO2 emissions. Public demand for green power
and advocacy for an aggressive national
Renewable Energy Standard will help further market
those opportunities.
The potential for
job creation for manufacturing, installation,
and maintenance of renewable power stations is
enormous.
We must convince the giant energy companies
to move beyond coal and shift their investments
to cleaner energy solutions.
One of those companies
is Dynegy, which is headquartered in Houston.
Why is Dynegy so critical to making this shift?
Here are a few of the reasons:
Dynegy has the most proposed coal-fired
power plants of any company in the U.S., with
plants proposed in Arkansas, Nevada, Michigan,
Iowa, Texas and Georgia.
If built, the coal-fired power plants being
proposed by Dynegy will pour over 44 million
tons of global warming causing carbon dioxide
into our air each year. Scientists tell us
that to avoid the worst consequences of global
warming we need to be reducing our carbon dioxide
emissions by 2% a year, not increasing them.
The soot, smog, mercury and other harmful
air pollution from Dynegy’s proposed
plants will cause hundreds of asthma attacks
and other respiratory illnesses and hurt the
economy by causing thousands of missed work
days.
If Dynegy shifted its investments away from
coal and into cleaner alternatives like wind,
solar and efficiency it could meet our energy
needs while boosting the economy, creating
jobs, improving public health and fighting
global warming.
Texans and people throughout the United States
need to give a message to Dynegy loud and clear
to stop developing new coal plants, publicly
oppose other proposed coal plants, and shift
its investments to energy efficiency and renewable
energy.
The opportunity to do so will come Tuesday,
January 29 when you can join hundreds of other
Texans in a statewide “call-in” to
the Dynegy headquarters in Houston urging the
company to move beyond coal to cleaner energy
solutions. The phone number for Dynegy headquarters
is 713-507-6400 or 1-877-396-3499.
After you make your call, please e-mail the
Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club at
lonestar.chapter@sierraclub.org,
and let us know the response you receive.
