Coal ports in the Northwest threaten the regions work to reduce pollution and embrace clean energy.

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The shareholder advocacy group As You Sow is asking that Duke disclose plans on how they will deal with coal price volatility and environmental regulations.

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Bill Gates is dedicating an increasing amount of time and resources in pursuit of clean energy solutions. His goal is to get the world’s emissions to zero within 75 years.

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EPA proposes the first carbon pollution standard for new coal-fired power plants.

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Coal’s share of monthly power generation in the U.S. decreased to below 40 percent in November and December 2011.

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“Is the emergence of shale gas a positive or negative development with respect to sustainability?” This was one of the most interesting questions discussed on one of the panels at KPMG’s Global Summit last week in New York. Given the growth of both interest and dispute around shale gas, the question was basically if shale gas is a bridge to a sustainable future or a bridge to nowhere.

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Michael Brune, the Sierra Club’s executive director, announced earlier this month that Sierra Club has decided to turn down $30 million in donations from people connected with Chesapeake Energy, the country’s second-largest natural gas producer. This decision came after it was revealed that Sierra Club secretly received $26 million in donations from these donors between 2007 and 2010.

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First Energy will close six coal-fired plants this year in another victory for anti-coal groups.

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A few small drops of mercury can contaminate a 20-acre lake and the fish that happen to reside there, thanks to coal-fired plant emissions. That’s a major reason why the EPA’s decision to regulate the emissions of mercury, lead and other toxic pollutants from coal- and oil-fired plants is a major victory for the health [...]

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Here’s an idea: Let’s flood the global market with our cheap dirty coal! We won’t be burning and polluting the atmosphere here, merely transporting the coal on 1.5-mile long trains through densely populated areas of the Pacific Northwest, where it will be exported to China. We’ll boost our exports, help our balance of trade and [...]

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Four right-wing and right-leaning anti-big government groups contend the EPA is “abusing” air-quality laws because the agency’s MACT (maximum achievable control technology) utility rules will force coal-fired electrical plants to shut down, thus jeopardizing the security and reliability of the U.S. power supply. A petition last week by the Institute for Liberty, Americans for Prosperity, [...]

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The Sierra Club received a huge and unprecedented boost Thursday when New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and his Bloomberg Philanthropies arm committed $50 million to the club’s Beyond Coal campaign. That’s five-oh million dollars! The partnership between the club and Bloomberg “will effectively retire one-third of the nation’s aging coal fleet by 2020, replacing [...]

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An unlikely marriage of algae and coal-plants could become a reality through a company called OriginOil. The company helps algae growers with the incredibly difficult process of extracting oil from their product for commercial use. It is bringing together dirty coal and green algae as part of a carbon capture project at a coal plant in Australia [...]

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A “carbon” bubble exists and massive misallocation of capital is taking place in world financial markets as fossil fuel reserves and the shares of coal, oil and natural gas producers continue to be valued as if we can continue to burn as much fossil fuel as we want.

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This post is part of a blogging series by economics students at the Presidio Graduate School’s MBA program. You can follow along here. By John Heylin If there’s one thing that will get environmentalists fired up, it’s the discussion over federal subsidies for the oil, nuclear and coal industries.  Renewable energy is forced to stand [...]

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TransAlta, the last operating coal-fired plant in the Pacific Northwest, is shutting down, but not until 2025 under a deal brokered by Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire with TransAlta, state regulators and environmental groups. It’s a phased closure of the controversial 1,600-megawatt plant in Centralia, WA that accommodates corporate needs, a long environmental battle and economic [...]

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A 12-year battle with Big Coal over the future of one of the largest West Virginia mountaintop removal coal mines was resolved this week when the Environmental Protection Agency “vetoed” Spruce Mine No. 1. Since 1998, the Sierra Club along with Coal River Mountain Watch, WV Highlands Conservancy, the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Public Justice [...]

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There is a good chance that gasoline could hit $4, or even $5, a gallon at some point this year. The American economy shows signs of recovering, and meanwhile, the booms in Brazil, India, and China means that there will be more competition for energy in any form. But here at home, investment in coal-fired plants has fallen the past two years. What is going on?

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A broad coalition of conservation and clean energy groups, including Earthjustice, the Washington Environmental Council and The Sierra Club want to stop a permit to build a 416-acre coal export terminal on the Columbia River at Longview, WA. The controversial permit was approved last month by commissioners in Cowlitz County, Washington. The coalition, which also [...]

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Mountaintop Removal Mining (MTR) has been growing emerging trend within the coal mining industry.  MTR is less labor-intensive and for miners, less dangerous since workers are not sent into the bowels of the earth.  Opponents, however, are often appalled at the results: beyond a scarred landscape, companies who engage in MTR leave behind a horrific [...]

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As the second largest coal-producing state, West Virginia provides 20 percent of all coal mined in the U.S. The West Virginia coal industry brings in $600 million in revenues a year, but costs the state $97.4 million just to repair damage to roads from coal trucks, according to a study by the West Virginia Center [...]

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California-based As You Sow has highlighted the dangers of coal ash disposal, and has put pressure on publicly-owned large utilities through shareholder resolutions. Now the group’s new pushed, backed by those investors, is to encourage the EPA to adopt Subtitle C, which includes federally-enforceable standards to tackle clean-up issues of coal ash disposal ponds

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Since 2008, 16 new coal plants came on line, and 16 more are under construction, according to an analysis by the Associated Press (AP). Over 30 new coal plants were either under construction or constructed since 2008, and will generate an estimated total of 17,900 megawatts (MW), enough to power 15.6 million homes, about the [...]

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President Obama recently authorized $1 billion for FutureGen, a public-private partnership aimed at operating the world’s first coal-fired, near-zero emissions power plant. FutureGen’s operation is focused on curbing carbon emissions generated from the burning of coal for electricity. In the scenario offered by proponents of “clean coal” emissions are captured and stored within the earth, [...]

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Here’s a new spin on the climate change debate for ya… Tad Patzek, chair of the Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering Department at the University of Texas and well-known energy expert, has recently come out and said that climate change predictions should be revised. Is it because he uncovered the great liberal conspiracy of global warming? [...]

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Marin Energy Authority of California is the first utility in the country to source over 75% of its electricity supply from non-fossil/non-nuclear generation. Further, it delivers this energy to homes and businesses at prices that beat the local utility’s price for electricity sourced principally from nuclear and natural gas powered plants. Charles McGlashan is an [...]

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Utility scale wind power plants have emerged as a global low cost renewable energy resource. In this second part of my video interview with Steve Fludder, Corporate VP for GE’s ecomagination, he outlines how GE grew its wind business in just 6 years into a $6 billion annual global revenue business . And he candidly [...]

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Exclusive interview by Bill Roth, founder of Earth 2017 and author of The Secret Green Sauce with Steve Fludder, Corporate VP for GE ecomagination posted in Triple Pundit on GE ecomagination’s plans to double cleantech investments and revenues.

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Shareholder resolutions and proxy votes haven’t been that successful in the past, but recent initiatives by As You Sow on coal show they’re picking up speed.

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by Amy Galland of As You Sow As regulators debate emission caps and utilities install filters and scrubbers to reduce toxic particles from going into the atmosphere – we have to take a minute and remember that the coal problem isn’t solved.  These toxins go somewhere. They go into the 130 million tons of Coal [...]

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