I answered a petition at Credo Action to declare there is no such thing as clean coal. The petitions were apparently given to the TransAlta company in Canada. I received the email from them out of the blue. They proudly and unashamedly proclaimed that coal was the way of the future. My reply is just below, at the top of the letter chain, read on to find the original letter from TransAlta to me.
—–Original Message—–
From: Tom
Sent: Friday, March 06, 2009 11:46 AM
To: ‘j.pierce’
Subject: RE: Time for a change
Dear j.pierce,
Thanks for the information about TransAlta. I believe sincerely that there
are many more environmentally sound and truly clean ways to produce
electricity using methods other than mountain top removal and the daily
dumping of billions of tons of CO2 into our atmosphere. You said that
TransAlta has invested in wind power, but this investment is pitifully
insufficient. You must meet 100% of the demand with renewable energy. The
technology is already here. That is what I demand, sir, that we outlaw coal
and develop renewable energy to meet the needs of the people.
You said:
“Until we, as a planet, are able to find other ways to meet growing demand
for reliable, consistent and affordable power, coal will continue to play a
critical role in supplying the world’s energy needs.”
This should read:
“Since we, as a corporation, already have the technology available to
produce consistent and affordable power through renewable sources, coal will
no longer play a role in supplying the world’s energy needs.”
The reason there is not more investment in renewable energy is because coal
is already established and changing over would cost money that TransAlta and
other power companies are unwilling to spend. Profit, over the health of the
people and the planet, is what drives decisions.
Once carbon sequestering technology comes online, what guarantees are there
that the existing power companies will use it? There will be political
considerations because the right wing will cry and stomp their feet. And
what do we do in the meantime? According to you we do nothing because all is
well.
Please check out the picture I’m sending. Ma
ybe you’ll change your mind
about so called “clean coal”.
Sincerely,
Mountain Top Removal Strip Mining
Tom
________________________________________
From: j.pierce [mailto:J.pierce@transalta.com]
Sent: Friday, March 06, 2009 7:38 AM
To: tom
Subject: RE: Time for a change
February 27, 2009
Through the organization Credo Action and its Credo Blog, we heard from many
individuals like you who expressed their concerns about coal-fired power
plants and the need for additional investment in clean electricity sources
(one version of the message is included below).
TransAlta shares your concern about climate change and we agree that we need
to continue to invest in clean sources of energy. We also recognize that we
must work to reduce the environmental impacts of electricity generation.
It’s a complex challenge, and there are no easy solutions. Until we, as a
planet, are able to find other ways to meet growing demand for reliable,
consistent and affordable power, coal will continue to play a critical role
in supplying the world’s energy needs. That is why TransAlta is working to
find new and better ways to operate our coal-fired power generation
facilities. We are committed to helping break the link between energy
production and its environmental impacts without compromising North
America’s long-term economic prosperity.
For almost two decades TransAlta has earned a reputation as an environmental
leader for our actions to increase the energy efficiency of our operations,
reduce harmful air emissions and invest in renewable energy. For the past
three years we have been selected as a member company on the Dow Jones North
American Sustainability Indexes (DJSI). Inclusion in the DJSI is granted
exclusively to companies that lead their industries in the pursuit of
sustainability by setting standards for best practice and demonstrating
superior environmental, social and economic performance.
TransAlta was the first major Canadian energy company to participate in a
wind power project, and is currently one of that nation’s largest wind
energy producers. In addition to owning significant hydroelectric assets,
since 2000 we have invested just under $1 billion in other forms of
renewable energy including wind farms and geothermal facilities to become
one of the leading developers and producers of renewable energy in North
America. Today, renewable energy accounts for more than 15 per cent of
TransAlta’s generation capability, and we plan to invest hundreds of
millions in green energy projects over the next five years.
But as much as we support and grow renewables, it is a reality that building
renewables alone will not solve the climate change problem. Coal and other
fossil fuels represent over 60 per cent of the global electricity supply.
We must address emissions from this huge installed capacity which will
continue to operate for decades.
At the same time as we pursue investments in renewable energy, we continue
our work to address the impacts of the fossil fuel side of our business. On
the climate change front, one of the most promising new developments is the
emergence of new carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies. CCS captures
CO2 emissions and stores them permanently in deep underground geological
formations. It is our view that CCS is one of the few technologies that can
make major greenhouse gas reductions globally in the next 10-15 years, and
be applied both to new and existing power plants.
Both the U.S. and Canadian Governments have announced massive CCS
initiatives. President Obama recently committed US$3.4 billion to
accelerate CCS technology, while Canadian governments have announced CDN$2.8
billion for the same purpose.
TransAlta is actively involved in developing CCS technology, which has a big
advantage over other greenhouse gas reduction techniques in that it can
sequester massive amounts of CO2 and can be retrofitted to existing
coal-fired plants. Last year we announced Project Pioneer in partnership
with Alstom Canada – a world leader in power generation technology – to
develop a large-scale CCS facility at one of our coal-fired power plants in
Alberta, Canada. Project Pioneer, once built, will be one of the first and
the largest such projects in the world, eliminating over one million tonnes
per year of CO2 from the atmosphere.
I hope this letter helps address some of your concerns. If you are
interested in learning more about TransAlta’s views on alternative energy,
the future of coal and the long-term potential of CCS, please refer to this
recent speech by our CEO, Steve Snyder (simply click on or copy and paste
this URL into your browser’s address bar -
http://www.transalta.com/transalta/webcms.nsf/AllDoc/7EFEBEFCFD0340818725750
6005CF84E?OpenDocument).
I would also encourage you to visit our website at www.transalta.com to find
further information about the company, including our most recent Report on
Sustainability.
Regards,
Jennifer Pierce
Vice President
Communications & Investor Relations – TransAlta
Opt-out – TransAlta will gladly keep your name on file so we can keep you
informed of the environmental advances we are making. If you would like to
be removed from this list, please reply to this email with the word
“unsubscribe” in the subject line.
—–Original Message—–
From: john.doe@abc.com [mailto:john.doe@abc.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2009 7:02 PM
To: Jennifer Pierce
Subject: Time for a change
Jennifer Pierce
VP Communications & Investor Relations
TransAlta Corporation
February 24, 2009
To whom it may concern:
As an electric power consumer, I am writing to ask you to shift your
investments away from dirty coal and towards truly clean electricity
sources. Shareholders are calling on power companies to make significant
reductions in their toxic emissions and to seriously address climate change.
The best way to respond to these concerns on climate change is for your
company to get out of the coal business, stop building new coal-fired power
plants, and to stop misleading the public about non-existent “clean coal”
technologies. I’m sure you’re aware that when Dynegy recently announced
they were pulling out of building coal-fired power plants, their stock price
went up by 19% in just one day.
We all know there’s nothing clean about coal and it is not the answer to
America’s increasing energy needs. No matter what technologies are employed,
coal-fired power plants inevitably contribute to global warming, air
pollution, and environmental degradation from the mining and burning of
coal.
I urge your company to invest in solar, wind and other renewable energy
technologies as a way of meeting growing consumer demand for energy. Energy
efficiency technologies should also be funded and deployed on a massive
scale. Only renewable energy and conservation will provide our country with
energy security, reduce toxic pollution and global warming, and create
competitive green jobs for years to come. I look forward to your response to
my letter and direct action in this matter.
Sincerely,
John Doe
City, State
Follow me on Twitter!
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.