2009 Spring – Summer Fashion with Christensens

Alan and David Christensen give an overview of Spring-Summer 2009 styles and fashions at Christensens on Main Street in Richfield, Utah.

Coal plants cancelled; so-called “clean” coal assailed

UPDATE: Proposed coal-fired power plant closings continue, as described in this article in the Washington Post. The article includes this quote:

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a proponent of coal power, said the cancellation underscored that coal plant financing will no longer be provided to plants that do not have a way to capture the carbon dioxide they produce.

“Throw a dart at a map and you’re going to hit within a hundred miles of where somebody two years ago thought they were going to build a pulverized coal plant with no carbon dioxide capture,” Schweitzer said. “In every single case, they’ve either announced their going to stop it or they’re one press release away from it.”

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Over the past week, the coal industry has suffered numerous setbacks, largely due to a struggling national economy, growing concerns about health and environmental problems — and opposition from local citizen groups.  

The Ely Energy Center, a proposed coal-fired power plant, has been withdrawn by the builders of the plant. They are going to build an electricity transmission line and look into providing renewable energy instead.

“We firmly believe the plentiful sources of renewable energy — primarily solar, geothermal and wind — that either already exist or most certainly can be developed within our state make it imperative that we press forward on an expedited basis with transmission facilities so that Nevada and its citizens can benefit from these resources as soon as possible,” NV Energy President and CEO Michael Yackira said in a statement.

This Ely plant is the second to be cancelled over the past week.  Another controversial power plant in Montana appears to have been cancelled, even though it was partially constructed.  The Montana coal-fired power plant was being built by a local co-op of several municipalities, which could not find financing and raised electrical bills by approximately a third, starting immediately and for the next 20 years, to cover the costs already incurred in building the plant thus far.  Some wonder if the plant could be converted to clean burning — but less profitable — natural gas, instead.

In response to the recent coal-fired power plant cancellations, James Kennon, president of Sevier Citizens for Clean Air and Water, said, “This certainly is a realistic approach to the present situation in our country that Sevier Power has not thought of to this point in time. They would rather fight than switch.”

State-wide media, such as the Salt Lake Tribune, report that Utah’s “dirty-air problem is growing,” and suggesting that the State of Utah may be forced to impose a moratorium on construction of any new coal-fired power plants while it tries to figure out how to comply with EPA-mandated air pollution restrictions or face huge cuts in federal funding for state government operations.

National media, such as the respected New York Times — which recently printed an article, available on their web site – are noting the “tough times” the coal industry is facing, despite a multi-million advertising campaign to label coal as “clean.”  Meanwhile, Web sites like ThisisReality.org or Coal-is-Dirty.com have sprung up to point out that the “clean” technologies referred to in coal-industry advertising actually appear to be decades away.  

Further, a growing number of experts claim that while sequestering small amounts of carbon dioxide emissions within empty mines or caverns, the hugely vast amounts of carbon dioxide produced by coal plants — the sheer scale of such a project — makes it essentially impossible and/or cost ineffective to do so.

Long-term, the local coal industry may also face big problems, with repeated rumors surfacing which claim that the SUFCO mine is slated to close over the next three years as its safely-accessible coal reserves are depleted.