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Dirty Business: The Uncertain Quest to Clean Up Coal (Audio)
The Mainstream Media Project
Scientists tell us there’s enough coal beneath American soil to power our electrical needs for another hundred years. But at what cost to the climate? Join us for a trip deep into the heart of Texas where business leaders, politicians, activists, religious leaders, and Wall Street investors are coming together to block the expansion of coal fired power plants.
Guests:
Jeff Goodell, Author of Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America’s Energy Future, Contributor to New York Times Magazine and Contributing Editor at Rolling Stone
Laura Miller, Mayor of Dallas, Texas
David Litman, CEO of Texas Business for Clean Air
Brian Schweitzer, Governor of Montana
Mike Brune, Executive Director of Rainforest Action Network
(clicking on a guest’s name will open their full interview audio file.)
(10 April 2007)
Links to audio files at original. The Mainstream Media Project (MMP) has many archived programs on environmental and energy topics. >blockquote>The Mainstream Media Project is a nonprofit public education and strategic communications organization that uses the mainstream broadcast media to raise public awareness about new approaches to longstanding issues.
Contributor BH writes:
I don’t normally recommend listening to info but just heard a really good radio program on coal: on the TXU powerplant controversy and the enviro-business deal to change energy paths in Texas. Completely within BAU {business-as-usual] but still super interesting. I’d recommend reading SUSTAINABLE FOSSIL FUELS for the deeper picture but for enviro politics junkies this is one great radio program.
CO2 Capture and Storage: The Energy Costs
Rembrandt, The Oil Drum: Europe
Capturing carbon dioxide from coal (and gas) fired electricity plants. Subsequently transporting the carbon dioxide from the plant and storing it underground in (abandoned) oil/gas fields, in other geological formations or on the ocean floor. It seems like an excellent solution for continued fossil fuel use in the coming decades.
The European Union wants to have 12 large CO2 capture and storage demonstration projects in place by 2015, requiring an investment of 5 billion euro. The expectation is that this development will cause significant cost reductions, making the technology affordable by 2020. There are however two large drawbacks, it will keep costing large sums of money and the process is quite energy intensive. In this post the impact of the extra energy cost of the process on coal depletion is quantified, the economics will follow in a later article.
(5 July 2007)
Jeff Goodell: Big Coal’s Dirty Secrets
Fresh Air, NPR
Jeff Goodell’s book Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America’s Energy Future, now out in paperback, argues that the U.S. is more dependent than ever on coal. Goodell is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine; he’s also the author of Our Story: 77 Hours That Tested Our Friendship and Our Faith, based on the account of nine miners trapped underground.
(21 June 2007)
This interview appears on several sites. Long interview.
Coal and energy policy (Audio)
Talk of the Nation, Science Friday
This week, Washington lawmakers battled over energy policy, debating legislation that would include new money for research, increased requirements for car fuel efficiency, and more. In this hour, we’ll talk about the various energy bills working their way through Congress. Is the time right for any of them to be enacted into law?
We’ll also focus in on coal as an energy source. Many environmentalists regard the fossil fuel as one of the dirtiest available — but coal’s supporters say new technology and techniques, including ‘liquid coal,’ have the potential to make coal a greener fuel choice. A new report says that in years to come, coal will continue to be in demand, but mining it will get more difficult. We’ll talk about the future of coal.
… Guests
Ben Geman
Senior Reporter, Greenwire …
Corale L. Brierley
Chair, Committee on Coal Research, Technology, and Resource Assessments to Inform Energy Policy …
Richard Bajura
Director, National Research Center for Coal and Energy
West Virginia University …
(22 June 2007)
Pleasant but not especially stimulating.
A listener called in about “Terra Preta”, but neither the host, nor guests Ben Geman nor Corale Brierly had heard about it. Another caller challenged the benefits of additional research funding for coal.
Last year Science Friday had another segment on coal. -BA
