Posted on 08/08/2004 6:09:33 PM PDT by RWR8189
MEMORANDUM John Kerry says coal should play an important role in America's energy future. He wants to "forge new ways to draw cleaner power from coal." But John Kerry's record tells a different storyhis votes and policies are aggressively anti-coal. On every issue of importance to coal and coal miners, John Kerry has sided with environmental extremists, who, like Kerry, view coal as a "dirty energy source" that must be eradicated. VOTED LAST YEAR FOR KYOTO-LIKE BILL According to the Energy Information Administration, the bill causes steep declines in coal use and production and eliminates thousands of coal jobs. S. 139 would: COSPONSORED EMISSIONS BILL WITH HILLARY CLINTON The Jeffords bill is so hostile to coal that the Ohio legislature, by an overwhelming bipartisan margin, passed a resolution condemning it: The United Mine Workers, the Utility Workers, the Boilermakers, and other labor unions oppose the Jeffords bill: Further, according to independent analysis, the Jeffords bill: KERRY/EDWARDS WANT U.S. TO REENTER KYOTO Kerry says the U.S. should "reengage with the international community" to forge a new global warming agreement, but the question remains: What would the agreement look like? And how could any agreement calling for strict reductions in CO2 emissions not harm coal? KERRY'S BOGUS SUPPORT FOR CLEAN COAL TECHNOLOGY John Kerry opposes President Bush's New Source Review reforms that allow utilities to upgrade their facilities with clean, energy efficient technologies, avoiding the complex, burdensome, and environmentally counterproductive permitting process unleashed by the Clinton EPA. Kerry also missed the vote on last year's energy bill, and later said that had he been present, he would have voted against it. Yet the bill included several provisions and substantial funding for clean coal technologies. KERRY OPPOSES MOUNTAIN TOP MINING A recent federal court decision, issued by U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin, a Clinton appointee, halted 11 mountaintop mining projects in southern West Virginia. The economic impacts, according to West Virginia economists, could be devastating. The question is: where does John Kerry stand on this decision? KERRY WANTS OLDER COAL PLANTS TO SHUT DOWN Nearly 100 percent of the coal-fired capacity in Ohio and West Virginia was built before 1985. According to John Kerry, these plants must install exorbitantly expensive pollution controls, which would force many plants to close, or simply shut down altogether.
FROM: BC'04 POLICY DEPARTMENT
John Kerry voted for the Climate Stewardship Act (S. 139), a bill very similar to the Kyoto Protocol, which would destroy the coal industry. Unions for Jobs and the Environment, a group that includes the United Mine Workers, called S. 139 "a bad idea," and believe that passage of S. 139 "would be tantamount to adoption of the Kyoto Protocol." (Unions for Jobs and the Environment, letter to the Senate, http://www.ujae.org/sitemap.htm -9/9/03)
Along with running mate John Edwards, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Kerry is a cosponsor of the Clean Power Act, introduced by liberal Vermont Sen. James Jeffords. This legislation would impose heavy burdens on coal, forcing many plants to switch to natural gas or shut down.
John Kerry routinely criticizes President Bush for rejecting Kyoto. As he said last year, "Instead of renegotiating the Kyoto Treaty to improve it, he simply repudiated it." (John Kerry, environmental policy address, October 20, 2003). And John Edwards, when asked in February by the San Francisco Chronicle whether he would support Kyoto, responded with a direct, "Yes," and said John Kerry agreed with him. ("Warming Up To a New Treaty?" San Francisco Chronicle, 7/15/04).
According to his website, John Kerry says he'll spend $10 billion over the next decade on clean coal technologies. But as the above demonstrates, you can't have clean coal without coal. Moreover, Kerry's policies would obstruct installation of clean coal technologies, placing further burdens on the industry in meeting new Clean Air Act requirements.
"Where we see a beautiful mountaintop, George Bush sees a strip mine." This is John Kerry's view of mountaintop mining, which employs 15,000 people and provides $21.8 million in revenue for education in West Virginia, according to a study by Marshall University.
John Kerry has a unique view of the Clean Air Act. According to Kerry, when the Act was passed in 1970, there was a consensus that existing coal-fired power plants had a remaining life-span of 10 to 15 years. Beyond that time, according to this view, they would be forced to install costly new pollution controls or simply shut down.
<SNIP>
Coal consumption in Texas is rising faster than any other form of energy. By 2030, the state's coal consumption is expected to be about 180 million tons per year, twice as much as the state consumed in 1990.(57) However, the state's appetite for coal has caused serious pollution problems around the state. Five of the top ten sources of air pollution in the state are coal-fired electric power plants.(58) Studies have linked elevated selenium levels in a number of East Texas Lakes with nearby coal-fired power plants.(59)
<SNIP>
In 1977, natural gas accounted for 86 percent of the fuel used to generate electric power in Texas. But in 1978, Congress passed the Powerplant and Industrial Fuel Use Act, which required utilities to phase out the use of natural gas as a boiler fuel by 1990. Designed as a response to perceived natural gas shortages, this requirement was later repealed when new gas supplies were discovered. However, by then, many Texas utility companies had begun developing coal supplies, which were viewed as a way to diversify their power-generation base. Today, about 40 percent of all the electricity consumed in Texas is derived from the burning of natural gas.(72) Half of the state's electricity is derived from burning coal. The balance comes from nuclear power, hydropower and renewables.
In 1990, electric power generation in the state produced 66 percent of the total sulfur dioxides, 37 percent of total nitrogen oxides and 35 percent of all the carbon dioxide emitted into the air in Texas.(73) As noted above, coal-fired power plants have been linked to acidification in several East Texas lakes. The same lakes have also been contaminated by selenium, a heavy metal linked to the coal-fired power plants.
<SNIP>
All Thanks to Carter and a Democratic House and Senate!
Let's recap:
We'd probably be all natural gas in Texas, by now if it wasn't for these idiots.
I wonder how Kerry voted in 1987 on the repeal of this?
Bill
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.