Coal: A "Fossil" Fuel for a Reason

A real life tragic wake up call to the ‘clean coal’ myth came on December 22, 2008, when a dam for coal ash waste failed at the Kingston Fossil Plant in Tennessee. Now, in North Carolina, Duke Energy is requesting a "minor" source designation for hazardous air pollutants like mercury and sulfur dioxide.

Blog readers have requested more updates on Sierra Club programs, so I hereby present an introduction into the Club's coal work.

The Sierra Club's "Move Beyond Coal" Campaign aims to eliminate one-third of the nation's global warming emissions, by:

1. Challenging new coal plants across the country.
2. Increasing efforts to retire the dirtiest old power plants.
3. Addressing the entire coal cycle, including mountaintop removal mining and its devastating impact on communities.
4. Educating investors and conducting shareholder advocacy to drive investment away from coal and into clean energy alternatives.
5. Stepping up efforts to support clean energy solutions.
6. Strengthening relationships with the public and a variety of coalitions to address coal as it relates to the environment, public health and the economy.

For more:

• Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining: Destroying Appalachia One Mountain At A Time
• Government-funded Global Warming
• Liquid Coal
• Our in-depth report on the Dirty Truth about coal (slimmed down, four-page fact sheet)
• Coal is not the answer, our anti-coal actvist site.