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Submitted via IRC for Bytram
U.S. greenhouse emissions fell in 2017 as coal plants shut
Greenhouse gases emissions from the largest U.S. industrial plants fell 2.7 percent in 2017, the Trump administration said, as coal plants shut and as that industry competes with cheap natural gas and solar and wind power that emit less pollution.
The drop was steeper than in 2016 when emissions fell 2 percent, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said.
EPA acting administrator Andrew Wheeler said the data proves that federal regulations are not necessary to drive carbon dioxide reductions.
[...] While Wheeler gave the administration credit for the reductions, which mainly came from the power sector, the numbers also underscore that the administration has not been able to stop the rapid pace of coal plant shutdowns.
[...] Natural gas releases far less carbon dioxide when burned than coal and a domestic abundance of gas has driven a wave of closures of coal plants. In 2017 utilities shut or converted from coal-to-gas nearly 9,000 megawatts (MW) of coal plants.
[...] The trend of U.S. coal plant shutdowns is expected to pick up this year, with power companies expecting to shut 14,000 MW of coal plants in calendar year 2018.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday October 18 2018, @06:21PM
Listen, we need coal. It's very clean now, and you know maybe it's a little too clean. Obama said, do the scrubber. Put on the scrubber. And some of our wonderful coal companies got the scrubber for their plants. Very expensive -- $100 million or even more. I put an end to that. Repealed. And our coal industry is coming back. Much faster than anybody expected. Something a lot of people said would never happen. Believe me, it's happening. Because of me.
We need nuclear too -- much more than we have. The coal and the nuclear are VERY SPECIAL to our national security. Because they go 24/7. And they can keep 90 days of fuel on site. Wind, solar, where do you keep the fuel? I'll tell you, you don't. The sun sets, it's calm weather -- you got no electric. Zero. Gas, not so easy to store. Look what happened in Aliso Canyon. Big leak -- massive. Oil, that's another one that's very easy to leak. Japan -- they kept their oil in tanks. They had an earthquake. Tsunami. And, bye bye tanks. Big mess from that one.
But we need ALL forms of energy, because our economy is growing TREMENDOUSLY. And we have a very high-energy economy -- the best. Remember 2015? Everybody was saying, "oh, it's going to be Clinton vs. Bush." Well, they were half right. It was Clinton (crooked). But Low Energy Jeb lost the primary. And I won. Like I always win. Big league!!!