Clean coal technology can fuel state's energy needs -- Global C...

Pennsylvania still is the fourth-largest producer of coal in the United States. We have reserves that might extend some 300 years.

[StaberDearth]

I have no qualms with clean coal or solvent refined coal technology. Just don't be subsidizing it with government tax revenues and thus creating an artificial, short term false economic environment for it! Example: corn-based ethanol!

Let it stand on its own. If it is truly a winner, the venture capitalists will come out of the woodwork to grease the initiative.

[McDumpy]

Ah once again we hear the fables from the Department Of Pollution Kathleen McDumpy. Remember children to drink you arsenic, consume your mercury, ingest your cadmium because Kathleen McDumpy says it's BENIFICIAL! Of course all of these items are toxic but hey what do those scientists know,we must listen to the industries that are pumping lots of money into the politicians pockets. She is like the Soviet misinformation minister simply spewing out the lies she wants our children to believe. They switch the words and that is all it is, a switching of the words, toxic waste is now a beneficial byproduct, dirty filthy mercury laden coal is now CLEAN COAL, processed human feces which was banned from ocean dumping because it left entire regions of the ocean with dead zones is now a nutrient rich fertilizer. You won't see any of these toxins being placed anywhere near McDumpys home but for the lower income people of NE PA well that is just fine for McDumpy, it is called depressed dumping and polluting, you see the cost benefit analysis states that it is ok for poor peoples children to become ill and suffer as long as MS McDumpys cocktail hour friends are making a killing, rather literally. Please Ms McDumpy, do us all a favor, put on your cheap pink dress or your manly man safari vest and sit in a corner collect your fat paycheck and do crossword puzzles until we can replace you with someone who actually calls pollution for what it is and doesn't misrepresent it as beneficial.

[Withheld]

And HOW long does it take to make coal? Come on, people.

[our twisted sister]

The DEP chief just doesn't even have a clue. She is supposed to be concerned with cleaning up the environment but here she is acting as if she is a paid spokesman for the coal industry. It just shows how the polluters have influence and control over the very agency that is supposed to regulate them. Quite frankly I believe this woman has sold her soul and has betrayed the very oath she took to protect the environment of Pennsylvania. Under her stewardship if one is so kind as to call it that, Pennsyvania is number one in garbage importation, number one in mercury pollution. Does ANYONE other than the polluters even listen to what she has to say anymore? Quite honestly she is a disgrace to the very agency she is supposed to be heading. She just doesn't get it or maybe she does and her elitism is such that she just doesn't care about anyone or anything other than the pollution industry. It will be a fine day in Pennsylvania when we read the headlines "McGinty replaced as head of DEP" yes indeed it will be a very fine day for the environment and a lousy day for the polluters.

[Roost]

This lady knows what she is talking about.More should understand that coal is being re-engineered for the 21st Century and we are fortuneate to have its abundance and affordability. Coal to liquids also offer opportunities to increase transportation fuels and create more competitive pricing. That puts dollars in family budgets.

[Um no]

our twisted sister wrote:

The DEP chief just doesn't even have a clue. She is supposed to be concerned with cleaning up the environment but here she is acting as if she is a paid spokesman for the coal industry. It just shows how the polluters have influence and control over the very agency that is supposed to regulate them. Quite frankly I believe this woman has sold her soul and has betrayed the very oath she took to protect the environment of Pennsylvania. Under her stewardship if one is so kind as to call it that, Pennsyvania is number one in garbage importation, number one in mercury pollution. Does ANYONE other than the polluters even listen to what she has to say anymore? Quite honestly she is a disgrace to the very agency she is supposed to be heading. She just doesn't get it or maybe she does and her elitism is such that she just doesn't care about anyone or anything other than the pollution industry. It will be a fine day in Pennsylvania when we read the headlines "McGinty replaced as head of DEP" yes indeed it will be a very fine day for the environment and a lousy day for the polluters.

Do you not embrace the idea of clean coal because of the technology or the author? Clean coal is progressive and should be considered the next wave of viable energy sources. This is not your father's coal burning plant.

[BURN COAL]

Exactly!!! And lets build all the coal plants on the west side of the Delaware River. Just about all that power flows from west to east. Look at the proposals for new transmission lines to run from West Virginia to New Jersey. The Garden State has environmental laws that are so strict no generation company wants to build a power plant there. It is cheaper to take it to the Keystone State and build a transmission line so they don't have to deal with power plants. Lets build all these new coal plants on the west side of the Delaware River.

These coal plants have come a long way too. Take some time to educate yourself about what the emissions limits are.

If you really want to send a message... ask the power company to come out and remove your meter. And ride a bike.

[our twisted sister]

I just base my conclusions on those little things called facts. Come on up here to the coal country honey, I will take you up in the mountains that are scarred, raped, trashed and polluted, I will take you to our rivers that run orange because of the corrosive effects of mine acid, no plants or fish will be found, I will take you to the cancer cluster families and let you tell the dying just how great this clean coal is, I will take you through the towns black with soot from the clean coal plants, with the thousands of filthy black dust spewing coal trucks on our streets everyday. I will take you to the mansion owned by the coal barron far away from where he does his filthy business, I will take you to the polluted stripping pits that have been loaded with toxins for decades, but I know, those little facts just can't get in the way of your pro pollution buddies. No, I wish they would just cover over all the coal, piles of culm, garbage and filth that the coal companies have heaped on this area for decades with the blessings of DEP. Sorry but simply spraying some deodorizer in your toilet after taking a dump doesn't make the pile any cleaner, your'e just masking the problem and that is what the robber barrons and DEP are attempting to do with their Kafka type rewording of pollution into the word clean. But of course you may believe just as DEP tells us, processed human pathogen laced feces, mercury, cadmium, arsenic laden dredge, arsenic and mercury laden flyash is as they say BENEFICIAL but here in the real world we know it is all a bunch of bull. Come live in our polluted towns for one week and you will most likely run away holding your nose and your breath but don't tell us how clean this is, we live in it and quite frankly it is nothing but filth.

Um no wrote:

<quoted text>
Do you not embrace the idea of clean coal because of the technology or the author? Clean coal is progressive and should be considered the next wave of viable energy sources. This is not your father's coal burning plant.

[Dennis]

Dear Secretary McGinty How can you even write about saving energy and talk about clean coal. Water filtration ran by large electric motors to remove farm chemical and cancerous nitrates. Sewage filtration being forced to remove fertilizers like nitrogen and phosphorus which use large amounts of electricity because the large motors that use huge amounts of electricity. Homes using water and radon filtration using electricity . Sure when the price of coal is about 200.00$ a ton and people have to make a choice because of the lies by Dep to drink cancerous farm chemicals while taxdollars are waisted amounting to millions of dollars for Conservation which is a joke in Pa. I have been burning coal while you and the Governor been burn lies while shopping in Walmart coughing whats left to my brains out because of sulfure and drinking contaminated cancerouse high nitrate water from farmers that you protect. Pennsylvania is the # 1 WATER POLLUTED STATE AND # IN AIR POLLUTION THANKS TO DEP.

[moral hazard]

Um no wrote:

<quoted text>
Do you not embrace the idea of clean coal because of the technology or the author? Clean coal is progressive and should be considered the next wave of viable energy sources. This is not your father's coal burning plant.

"Clean coal" is an oxymoron.

And you are just a moron.

[Um no]

our twisted sister wrote:

Come live in our polluted towns for one week and you will most likely run away holding your nose and your breath but don't tell us how clean this is, we live in it and quite frankly it is nothing but filth.

How can I argue with such open-minded reasoning and critical thought?

Do you know *anything* about the new coal technologies?

[engineer]

Our twisted sister - since you seem to know so much about mining and the environement, I wonder where did you attain your degree? Is it mining engineering or environemental engineering?

You know what is really funny to me, is this attitude that it is everybody's fault but your own. YOU are the problem, I am the problem, we are ALL the problem. YOU took those mountains down, YOU polluted those rivers (I think thats BS, but thats a different discussion) right along with the rest of us.

I wonder if you have ever taken the time to visit a modern mine, or do you just see the effects of historic mining and think we still do it with picks and shovels, and no regulation. Have you ever read the multitude of laws mining companies follow?

You are missing the point entirely, which is not suprising. Thank goodness people like you don't make policy for this country.

[moral hazard]

"Have you ever read the multitude of laws mining companies follow?"

Two words: Queue Creek

Coal mining is still one of the most dangerous and polluting industries on earth.

Good read: "Big Coal"

[engineer]

Or a 5 year education in mining engineering (started Masters, decided I needed some industry time/ran out of money) and nearly a decade in the industry.

Coal mining no longer even ranks in the top 10 most dangerous jobs.

TRI - Toxic release inventories are BS. Waste rock containing heavy metals that have merely been moved to the surface is not the same kind of pollution as say, dumping heavy metal laden water into Lake Erie.

There are problems with mining, but most people have an out-dated notion of mining. Visit a modern coal mine and learn.

Wanna keep going moral hazard, I'm down.

[Um no]

moral hazard wrote:

<quoted text>
"Clean coal" is an oxymoron.
And you are just a moron.

Clean coal is just what it's called, I can't take credit for it.

Didn't take long for your argument to break down into name calling, did it?

[moral hazard]

By "modern coal mine" do you mean surface--e.g. Powder River, W. Kentucky, W.Va.--or deep mines?

Here in eastern Pa. we are still dealing with acid mine drainage from 100-year-old hard-rock anthracite mines. While I'm sure modern mines are relatively safer and cleaner--due to safety and environmental regulations that coal companies have fought every step of the way--I'm also confident that today's "clean" mining technology and coal-to-liquids will present future generations with similar, if not worse, problems. Mountaintop removal, for instance, is an unmitigated disaster in the hollows of W.Va. and E. Kentucky.

[moral hazard]

Um no wrote:

<quoted text>
Clean coal is just what it's called, I can't take credit for it.
Didn't take long for your argument to break down into name calling, did it?

Sorry, I just couldn't resist!

[engineer]

I mean both surface - Powder River, WY is a good example of modern mining practices on the surface; and underground - Twenty-Mile in CO utilizing longwall methods.

If you don't know anything about modern mining, or have never actually been to a working mine, please do some research first. I don't have time to explain it all.

Here in CO we are also still seeing the remnants of historical mining and the ARD that accompanies it. The old timers didn't know any better.

But we do today.

I can't speak about mountain top removal past what I have read. It seems to be way blown out of proportion by the greens (tha name doesn't help). Maybe not, I don't know. It also seems to be on the decline.

Always remember, coal was formed naturally, and emplaced by Mother Nature, I believe for a reason. Erosion is a natural process as well; mountain top removal mining is just speeding it up; given enough time all those mountains will end up in the valleys.

Mining has been conducted since we moved from the stone to the bronze age, and only recently have regulations been put in place (last 100 years). Where are the irreperable disasters from 1000s of years of mining? Nowhere, because the disturbance is quickly remedied by Mother Nature.

I live on an old mine, you can't even tell anymore.

[Mike]

If we want protectour environment for future generations and also provide energy needs for today, we need to strike a balance between the options available from a resource and technology perspective and the impacts and costs associated with exercising the most viable options.

As I see it, "clean coal" is one of many options to seriously explore.
Wind turbine, geothermal, solar, hydrolelectric, fuel cell technology (hydrogen and otherwise), biodiesel and nuclear energy are the options on the table.

Along with these options, efficiencies in our transportation and distribution infrastructures need to be improved to reduce energy waste.
Additionally, we need government and industry to work together to advance these options for the true benefit of all individuals, not just to fatten the wallets of a select few at everyone else's expense. Certainly, some of our sordid history has produced plenty of ammunition for today's skeptics as to whether causes such as "clean coal" or any other options that are promoted are being done so for the "common good".

[StaberDearth]

Lot's of ignorance on this board today...no homework being done, I guess. Just a lot of raw emotion and fictional brew.