via Think Progress » Claire McCaskill Tweets That Clean Energy Bill Will ‘Unfairly Punish’ Missouri.
Last night, the House of Representatives passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act, which will establish the first national standards for renewable energy, energy efficiency, and global warming pollution. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) responded on Twitter this morning, saying that the legislation’s cap on carbon pollution would “unfairly punish” Missouri’s families and businesses:
Who needs Luntz or Norquist when we have a DEMOCRAT to put out the weekly Republican talking point?
Thanks Claire.
At any rate, I want to urge everyone to follow the link back to the original story at Think Progress and read through some of the readers’ comments. One in particular grabbed my attention as being representative of the right-wing echo machine at full speed. The commentator is trying to make the case that coal doesn’t pollute:
Tim Vaculik Says:
Folks, we have the cleanest coal-fired power plants in the WORLD.
If we want to get away from using coal, fine! Let’s invest in NUCLEAR power plants like the French!
June 27th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
You know, there are many things that could be said about this one statement, but here’s what I have to say.
Actually what we have, Tim, are coal fired electric plants that have never stopped pouring billions of tons of CO2 into the air. They don’t have the technology to stop it. They claim that coal is “clean” because they capture the particulates, or ash, in smoke stack scrubbers before the hot smoke is released. They take that ash and pour it into water pools called impoundments that they dig on whatever land is available, sometimes near streams so that the polluting ash can seep into the water, and sometimes the ash dams burst causing an ecological catastrophe and either injuring or endangering human life. Many of these dams have not been inspected in 20 years.
The coal fired smoke that is still released into the atmosphere has the ash removed so that it is invisible and appears to be “clean” when in reality not one pound of CO2 is removed. “Clean coal” is a lie.
The FutureGen project in eastern Illinois was abandoned last year due to cost overrun. The Department of Energy, along with some private investors, began the project to develop the worlds first coal fired electrical plant that would capture and store carbon dioxide given off from burning coal. They gave up when the price tag went over $1.8 Billion. It was in the news again a few days ago because another two of the private investors dropped out and the Department of Energy is looking for more.
And don’t get me started on mountain-top removal.
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A Second Look | Daryl Hannah Talks Dirty (About Coal Mining)
via Daryl Hannah: Why I Was Arrested in Coal River, West Virginia.
When politicians, Obama included, talk of “clean coal” they are not speaking of any new processes invented to finally make coal healthy. What they, these politicians and their echo network, are doing is whitewashing a serious ecological and human health catastrophe caused by coal mining.
It is a trick perfected by the right-wing. They come up with a two or three word phrase that strikes a chord with voters to promote their agenda and keep us from looking behind the curtain at what is really happening. This very effective trick is called framing. The frame clean coal is one of many piles of wool the right wing has pulled over our eyes during the Bush administration and is continuing today with Obama’s continued use of the phrase.
Another famous frame was stay the course. You know where that got us.
Hannah and others were arrested last week protesting the continued use of the method of mining called Mountain Top Removal (MTR). Hannah explains why in her own words:
Mountain Top Removal uses explosives to loosen the mountain top, then machines scrape the dirt off the coal vein and dump the spoil into the valleys and intermittent streams. Entire ecological systems are destroyed in the process.
Some photos of Mountain Top Removal:
The aftermath of mountaintop removal.
If you want to see a real good close-up of the damage done by MTR go here.
What’s worse than this utter destruction of our precious and beautiful America is the toll this mining takes on human health. The part of Hannah’s saga having the most impact is her sharing of personal stories sent from Appalachian residents who have to breathe the sulfur packed air and drink the mercury and other carcinogens from the polluted water.
From the article:
Don’t listen to anyone who promotes the frame “clean coal”. It is a lie. The reason it resonates is that the power companies that dump billions of tons of CO2 into our atmosphere have changed the color of the smoke from their chimneys making the gases emitted appear clean.
All they have done is remove the ash, which is toxic by the way, and dump it by the ton into small ponds called impoundments. The ponds are not lined and mercury, arsenic, and other toxins leech into the West Virginia and Kentucky drinking water. They might as well have done nothing. They cannot capture the CO2 (greenhouse gas) because they do not have the technology as of now.
But there is invisible smoke now, so the uninformed think coal must be clean.
The frame “clean coal” exists and satisfies the right-wing mouth-breathers’ need for an excuse to keep the status quo.
Real clean coal, though, does not exist. It is just another right-wing lie.