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posted by martyb on Thursday July 25 2019, @07:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the Just-how-much-coal-ash-and-CO2-is-produced-from-geothermal-and-solar? dept.

The Trump Administration Protested when Kenya Halted Construction of a Coal-Fired Power Plant:

When the Kenyan government had second thoughts about allowing the country's first coal-fired power plant, the Trump Administration's representative in the country protested.

U.S. Ambassador Kyle McCarter, a Trump appointee who previously served as a Republican state senator in Illinois, went on Twitter to argue in a string of tweets that coal is environmentally sound, that the plant would boost the country's economy and that a critical analysis of the plant from a clean energy think tank amounted only to the work of "highly paid protestors."

"Coal is the cleanest, least costly option," U.S. Ambassador Kyle McCarter wrote from his official Twitter last week. "Investors will come."

[...] McCarter['s] Twitter comments began on June 25, after Kenya's National Environmental Tribunal's announced that it would halt construction of the Lamu coal-fired power plant, which would have been the first such power plant in the country. The court said the project's planners had failed to engage the local community and argued that the environmental review conducted ahead of the project did not adequately address several environmental issues including the country's commitment to fighting climate change. The project could still be revived if a new environmental assessment adequately addresses the concerns laid out in the decision.

[...] The U.S. recently launched a program promoting investment in the region, intended to serve as a geopolitical counterweight to China's growing influence, and McCarter seemed to suggest that a coal-fired new power plant would advance U.S. investment. Still, on its face, the project raises questions about how it would serve U.S. interests over China's given that it is financed by China and would be built by Chinese developers.

In a contrast to McCarter's remarks, the Chinese ambassador to Kenya met with opponents of the coal-fired power plant on June 28 and told them that he supported the will of "the people of Kenya" to "decide whether there would be a coal power plant or not," according to a statement from activists.

Also on:
Associated Press, Guardian, Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis


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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 25 2019, @08:05AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 25 2019, @08:05AM (#870954)

    "War is not merely a political act, but also a real political instrument, a continuation of political commerce, a carrying out of the same by other means."

    von Clausewitz

    If this adversarial stance against CO2 curbing is a new official policy to the extent of international global and bilateral affairs, what are we expecting in near future? Shooting wars to "protect" coal burning, by forcing countries to keep, or even to build new coal power plants?

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 25 2019, @10:26AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 25 2019, @10:26AM (#870970)

    Burn the Coal or Pay the Toll.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 25 2019, @04:01PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 25 2019, @04:01PM (#871101)

      Because a coal is a coal, and a toll is a toll,
      and if we don't get no tolls, we don't eat no rolls.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by hendrikboom on Thursday July 25 2019, @03:47PM

    by hendrikboom (1125) Subscriber Badge on Thursday July 25 2019, @03:47PM (#871096) Homepage Journal

    Reminds me of the Opium war.

  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday July 25 2019, @04:11PM

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday July 25 2019, @04:11PM (#871107) Journal

    To avoid war, can Trump sign an executive order forcing Kenya to complete the coal plant?

    Green plants are good for the environment. So paint the coal plant green.

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.