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posted by martyb on Thursday November 20 2014, @06:24PM   Printer-friendly
from the do-coal-plants-come-from-coal-seeds? dept.

Christina Nunez reports in National Geographic that in the past four years, at least 29 coal-fired plants in 10 states have switched to natural gas or biomass while another 54 units, mostly in the US Northeast and Midwest, are slated to be converted over the next nine years. By switching to natural gas, plant operators can take advantage of a relatively cheap and plentiful US supply. The change can also help them meet proposed federal rules to limit heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, given that electricity generation from natural gas emits about half as much carbon as electricity from coal does.

But not everyone is happy with the conversions. The Dunkirk plant in western New York, slated for conversion to natural gas, is the focus of a lawsuit by environmental groups that say the $150 million repowering will force the state's energy consumers to pay for an unnecessary facility. "What we're concerned about is that the Dunkirk proceeding is setting a really, really bad precedent where we're going to keep these old, outdated, polluting plants on life support for political reasons," says Christopher Amato. Dunkirk's operator, NRG, wanted to mothball the plant in 2012, saying it was not economical to run. The utility, National Grid, said shutting it down could make local power supplies less reliable, a problem that could be fixed by boosting transmission capacity—at a lower cost than repowering Dunkirk. Meanwhile the citizens of Dunkirk are happy the plant is staying open. “We couldn’t let it happen. We would lose our tax base, we would lose our jobs, we would lose our future,” said State Sen. Catharine M. Young. “This agreement saves us. It gives us a foundation on which to build our economy. It gives us hope. This is our community’s Christmas miracle!”

 
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  • (Score: 2) by cmn32480 on Thursday November 20 2014, @08:22PM

    by cmn32480 (443) <reversethis-{moc.liamg} {ta} {08423nmc}> on Thursday November 20 2014, @08:22PM (#118235) Journal

    I see what you did there. And you are correct. My comment was very one sided.

    In this instance, meeting half way with the transition of the coal plant to natural gas, seems to be a fair compromise to keep the town running and reduce the emissions. And yes, the byproducts of coal mining are certainly some nasty stuff.

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