An Environmental Step In The Right Direction
California Regulation Forbids Utilities From Buying 'Dirty' Electricity
In a bold move that is sure to be challenged by not only the biggies of the electricity market, but also by the Bush administration that wants to increase the use of coal power plants (using so-called "clean coal" which is an oxymoronic phrase as well as a public relations term used by the coal industry giants that are fast losing their US markets for coal).
Once again we are thrust into a battle of lobbyists and their influence peddling versus the interests of the general population and the environment. Anyone that has seen the Al Gore expose, An Inconvenient Truth, can tell you that coal is a major contributor to our greenhouse effect and the resulting global warming. Even with smokestack scrubbing technologies, coal is an ineffective resource for creating electricity because of the dangerous gases, particles and the failure of the coal and electricity producers to even consider alternative production methods.
Despite all the rhetoric about becoming more independent from fossil fuels, and the recent commitment made by President Bush to begin a "post-Kyoto effort" toward addressing global warming and greenhouse gases, the Bush administration continues to plow through support for alternative energy resources in favor of the big businesses that have not only monopolized the fossil fuels industries, but had a large part in creating the global warming crisis we face.
But if every state took the bold step that California has taken in limiting the use of coal and unclean methods of energy production by controlling the economics and state regulatory conditions, then these big industry entities would take a new look at alternative methods and begin a serious effort to clean up our environment.
It is not enough, however, to limit such things in California, throughout the United States, or even the entire North American continent. We must begin to export our cleaner methods and technologies to places where the exploitation of our world--and millions of people in the process--so that we address the global warming crisis in real terms. If it were done right, many of the big businesses committed to the current methods and abuses would find new products and new technologies (as well as support services for those technologies) to market around the world. But necessity is the mother of invention and innovation, so there will never be any industry-generated change until there is a necessity.
Bravo to California for beginning the process of creating the necessity!
However, it should be a matter of concern when officials from PG&E, a company notorious for its secrecy, ulterior motives, and a history of major pollution battles (c.f. Erin Brackovich et al) jumps onto the bandwagon and endorses the idea. Given that PG&E is likely to grab a lot of the market share that would be abandoned by the companies currently supplying 20% of California's electrical supply via coal burning plants, it makes business sense to endorse the plan. However, during recent energy shortages, blackouts, brownouts and infrastructure inadequacies, PG&E has been noted to engage in actions that were not only consumer-unfriendly, but the subject of state and federal investigations.
So, PG&E's endorsement should be viewed with a grain of salt and the decision to challenge the CPUC ruling by those companies that produce coal-based electricity should be anticipated.
Still, we have had a couple of miraculous breakthroughs lately: President Bush has finally admitted that global warming is not a fig newton of our imaginations and the EPA is producing materials on the effect of GHGs once again, minus the GOP and ultra-conservative spin stating that the claims regarding pollution, GHGS, global warming and the like were the product of warped activists and bad science. We should be grateful that reality has set in with some of the hard-heads on that side of this issue.
In a bold move that is sure to be challenged by not only the biggies of the electricity market, but also by the Bush administration that wants to increase the use of coal power plants (using so-called "clean coal" which is an oxymoronic phrase as well as a public relations term used by the coal industry giants that are fast losing their US markets for coal).
Once again we are thrust into a battle of lobbyists and their influence peddling versus the interests of the general population and the environment. Anyone that has seen the Al Gore expose, An Inconvenient Truth, can tell you that coal is a major contributor to our greenhouse effect and the resulting global warming. Even with smokestack scrubbing technologies, coal is an ineffective resource for creating electricity because of the dangerous gases, particles and the failure of the coal and electricity producers to even consider alternative production methods.
Despite all the rhetoric about becoming more independent from fossil fuels, and the recent commitment made by President Bush to begin a "post-Kyoto effort" toward addressing global warming and greenhouse gases, the Bush administration continues to plow through support for alternative energy resources in favor of the big businesses that have not only monopolized the fossil fuels industries, but had a large part in creating the global warming crisis we face.
But if every state took the bold step that California has taken in limiting the use of coal and unclean methods of energy production by controlling the economics and state regulatory conditions, then these big industry entities would take a new look at alternative methods and begin a serious effort to clean up our environment.
It is not enough, however, to limit such things in California, throughout the United States, or even the entire North American continent. We must begin to export our cleaner methods and technologies to places where the exploitation of our world--and millions of people in the process--so that we address the global warming crisis in real terms. If it were done right, many of the big businesses committed to the current methods and abuses would find new products and new technologies (as well as support services for those technologies) to market around the world. But necessity is the mother of invention and innovation, so there will never be any industry-generated change until there is a necessity.
Bravo to California for beginning the process of creating the necessity!
However, it should be a matter of concern when officials from PG&E, a company notorious for its secrecy, ulterior motives, and a history of major pollution battles (c.f. Erin Brackovich et al) jumps onto the bandwagon and endorses the idea. Given that PG&E is likely to grab a lot of the market share that would be abandoned by the companies currently supplying 20% of California's electrical supply via coal burning plants, it makes business sense to endorse the plan. However, during recent energy shortages, blackouts, brownouts and infrastructure inadequacies, PG&E has been noted to engage in actions that were not only consumer-unfriendly, but the subject of state and federal investigations.
So, PG&E's endorsement should be viewed with a grain of salt and the decision to challenge the CPUC ruling by those companies that produce coal-based electricity should be anticipated.
Still, we have had a couple of miraculous breakthroughs lately: President Bush has finally admitted that global warming is not a fig newton of our imaginations and the EPA is producing materials on the effect of GHGs once again, minus the GOP and ultra-conservative spin stating that the claims regarding pollution, GHGS, global warming and the like were the product of warped activists and bad science. We should be grateful that reality has set in with some of the hard-heads on that side of this issue.
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has unanimously approved a regulation that will prohibit utilities from buying electricity produced by power plants whose emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) exceed the state's standards. The CPUC rule, which the four-member commission discussed and voted on Thursday, forbids California utilities from making "new long-term commitments" - including new construction, "major investments" in existing plants and contracts lasting five years or longer - to facilities that emit more than 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour. Most gas-fired power plants meet that standard, while most coal-burning plants do not. Coal-fired plants outside California now supply about 20 percent of the state's electricity. In a press release, PUC President Michael R. Peevey said the commission "has long anticipated capping greenhouse gas emissions in order to ensure that load-serving entities make long-term commitments to energy resources that have GHG emissions profiles that are at least as clean as California's existing portfolio." The chief executive of one large utility, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., likewise praised the "aggressive and pragmatic policy" as an "essential step to addressing climate change."
Scientific research has shown that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases contribute to global warming. California's regulation is intended to encourage the growth of alternative energy sources, such as wind and solar power, that produce less pollution. The rule, which is scheduled to be implemented on Feb. 1, was adopted pursuant to an emissions-control bill passed by the state Legislature and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last year. AP has more. The Los Angeles Times has local coverage.
Also this week, the Los Angeles Times reported that 221 companies had registered their emissions levels with the voluntary California Climate Action Registry as of last month. Under the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, also signed by Schwarzenegger last year, companies that joined the registry before Jan. 1 could earn "early action" credits that they could then sell to companies having trouble meeting strict new emissions standards.
This report was prepared in partnership with the Pittsburgh Journal of Environmental and Public Health Law.
posted by Jim Downey at 1:04 PM
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