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U.S. Greenhouse Emissions Fell in 2017 as Coal Plants Shut

posted by chromas on Thursday October 18 2018, @04:16PM   Printer-friendly
from the what-do-I-do-with-all-these-burner-inserters? dept.

upstart writes:

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.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 18 2018, @05:24PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 18 2018, @05:24PM (#750541)

    If you listen to fake news for long enough eventually everything you believe will be wrong...

    Trump writes, "The natural gas reserves we have in the United States could power America's energy needs for the next 110 years," and there is enough crude oil to last for decades. He supports a dramatic escalation of domestic drilling to provide jobs and minimize dependency on foreign cartels. "Fracking will lead to American energy independence. With price of natural gas continuing to drop, we can be at a tremendous advantage."
    [...]
    I have people in the business and they say it's almost impossible to get a permit to drill. So you can imagine how hard it is to get nuclear and other things but they say it's almost impossible. If you look at natural gas, we're the Saudi Arabia times 100 of natural gas--but we don't use it.

    http://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/Donald_Trump_Energy_+_Oil.htm [ontheissues.org]

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by requerdanos on Thursday October 18 2018, @05:34PM (2 children)

    by requerdanos (5997) on Thursday October 18 2018, @05:34PM (#750550) Journal

    On the other hand,

    “We’ve ended the war on beautiful, clean coal, and it’s just been announced that a second, brand-new coal mine, where they’re going to take out clean coal – meaning, they’re taking out coal, they’re going to clean it – is opening in the state of Pennsylvania.”

    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-advocates-clean-coal-despite-not-knowing-what-it [msnbc.com]

    • (Score: 1) by Sulla on Thursday October 18 2018, @05:51PM

      by Sulla (5173) on Thursday October 18 2018, @05:51PM (#750565) Journal

      Trump gets to sell a product that nobody wants to buy and get none of the downsides of saying it (increased pollution) and all of the upsides of saying it (less disenfranchised workers).

      --
      Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 18 2018, @06:31PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 18 2018, @06:31PM (#750579)

      Trump isnt emotionally attached to coal, he just wanted to remove as many political impediments as possible to people choosing the best energy source for their needs. If that isnt coal, who cares?
      People are projecting their emotional attachment to solar/wind onto him, like they literally cannot comprehend rational thought processes any more.

  • (Score: 3, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Thursday October 18 2018, @06:40PM

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Thursday October 18 2018, @06:40PM (#750583) Journal

    If you listen to fake news for long enough eventually everything you believe will be wrong...

    Yes, the words coming directly out of that buffoon's mouth are fake news now.