It's been a rough month for the coal industry, after the country's leading financial institutions announced they're putting in place tougher standards for financing new power plants and the Department of Energy pulled funding from their pie-in-the-sky "clean coal" project.
The energy consulting firm Wood Mackenzie recently released a report on the future of coal, which paints a bleak picture for the industry. During 2007, plans for more than 50 conventional coal-fired plants were delayed or canceled because of concerns about the environmental impact and/or fears that they wouldn't be financially sustainable. According to the Wood Mackenzie study, "the rate of coal plant cancellations accelerated during 2007 to the point that more than 50 percent of the new coal capacity announced since 2000 has now been canceled." And as David Roberts points out on Gristmill, the cost of building a coal-fired power plant has gone up 130 percent in the past eight years. This latest report also concludes that the problems for coal are only going to get worse, in the wake of last year's Supreme Court ruling that the EPA can and should be regulating CO2 emissions.
So it should come as no surprise the industry is dropping millions on lobbying, ad campaigns and debate sponsorship. They're putting up a good fight, but appear more and more desperate in the face of reality. Take for instance the industry's retort to talk of the eminent demise of coal. Says National Mining Association spokesman Luke Popovich:
This is part of a concerted effort to grossly exaggerate opposition to coal-based electricity generation ... The NGO's (nongovernmental organizations) are on a jihad, exaggerating anecdotal evidence to conclude that coal is on the way out. Demand for coal in the world, let alone the United States, continues to set records, despite what they say. Affordable power is critical for the U.S. economy.
Yes, affordable power is critical. But coal won't be affordable for much longer, which is what all the "jihadists" (including notable radical cells like Citigroup and Bank of America) are pointing out. Demand for coal remains high (accounting for about 50 percent of our energy currently) because we haven't developed adequate replacements. But as we begin to invest in other sources and put a monetary value on carbon, coal will become just as unsustainable financially as it is environmentally.
--Kate Sheppard
