Energy Company Fails To Find Unicorn
Or, more precisely:
Energy Northwest officials said they could not produce a required plan for capturing carbon emissions from the proposed [coal] plant in the foreseeable future.
Right. Carbon capture and sequestration doesn't exist for coal plants, not in any functional form.
What's more, even energy companies don't seem to believe CCS will be feasible anytime soon. Which is why I worry about climate policies that would devote public resources to CCS, a dubious and potentially very expensive endeavor. And it's why I worry even more about climate policies that would actually rely on CCS to achieve emissions reductions.
Until someone figures out how to make CCS viable -- and I sincerely hope someone does figure this out -- laws like Washington's are an excellent idea:
A 2007 Washington law sets strict limits on carbon emissions from coal plants and requires that utilities show how any future coal plant would capture or "sequester" carbon emissions by permanently injecting them deep underground, thus preventing them from entering the atmosphere.
Energy Northwest's decision to withdraw its application "was simply a reflection of the fact that the law passed by the state Legislature made it financially and probably legally impossible for us to move forward with the gasification plant," said Energy Northwest spokeswoman Rochelle Olson. "Carbon sequestration is really still in the research and development stages, and as a public agency we are prohibited from accepting open-ended risk."
Even better, of course, would be a firm cap on total carbon emissions. Under a cap, if CCS turns out to be a cost-effective technology, then energy companies will move in that direction. If it turns out that there are cheaper ways to reduce emissions -- conservation, efficiency, renewables, whatever -- then emitters will move toward these other strategies. Once we have a legal carbon cap in place, we can let the market sort it out.
Special Series
Word on the Street
In a Series
American Public Wants Climate Policy
After reading earlier this week that only 24 percent of Americans know what cap and trade is (and in the same day, that 88 million votes were cast in last week's round of American Idol), I needed a little pick-me-up. Luckily, it arrived today in the form of new Pew survey numbers indicating strong public support for the essential ingredients of a national cap and trade program. Who cares if people can name the policy -- they know what they want.
To gain bipartisan perspective on American public opinion, Pew commissioned national surveys by The Mellman Group, a leading Democratic firm, and Public Opinion Strategies, a leading Republican firm.
A national survey of likely 2010 general election voters conducted from March 25-29, 2009 by The Mellman Group found:
Americans want action to reduce the carbon pollution that causes global warming.
- 77 percent of voters favor action to reduce global warming emissions.
(3)
Googling the Unemployment Rate
I once said that if I had to marry a search engine, I would be willing to make a commitment to Google. For some reason, people thought I was speaking hyperbolically, but I was not. (Sorry, Jill.)
If that sounds crazy, consider:
Behold, Google's display of state-level trends in unemployment! (Go play with it; it's fun.)
I know, I know, it's no big thing. Google has all kinds of stuff like this and the data are derived from some other source. (From the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in this case.) But that's what kills me: it's so clear and easy-to-use and, well, beautiful. I love it.
And holy cow, is Oregon's employment situation ugly.
H/t to my BlueOregon
