Don’t Wait to Suffocate

This weekend, Energy Justice Network, a Philadelphia-based environmental non-profit, took to the streets to protest Bank of America’s investments in coal. Joined by local activists and supported by Rainforest Action Network, Energy Justice Network was one of 50 groups from across the country to organize “No Coal Day of Action” events this weekend.

The group spent Saturday distributing information, collecting petition signatures, and calling the Bank headquarters (phone number 704-386-5666) to persuade Bank of America to stop providing massive loans to coal companies. Bank of America’s loan practices are literally fueling the climate crisis by enabling the construction of expensive new coal plants likely to become even more costly for ratepayers due to a carbon cap-and-auction system under the Obama administration.

Rainforest Action Network’s global finance campaign has revealed that Bank of America, and other major banking institutions such as Citi and JPMorgan Chase, all provide significant financial resources to coal companies – including those that practice mountaintop removal mining. Groups hosting “No Coal’ protests this weekend implored bank customers to reconsider their banking options amid a severe economic downturn, and to support safe alternative financial institutions such as credit unions.

Energy Citizen Rallies Distort American Opinion

Philadelphia, PA – As the Senate gears up to debate climate legislation this fall, paid lobbyists with the American Petroleum Institute are organizing a new type of event – invitation only “Energy Citizens” rallies. These rallies are one of the latest attempts to spread fear that the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) will raise energy prices and ‘kill jobs’.

Recently, one such rally, organized by registered lobbyist Rolf Hanson, came within 30 minutes of Philadelphia, where I live. The event took place at Turbine Hall in the heavily industrialized City of Chester, Pennsylvania. I uncovered a few details before event planners became suspicious and I snuck in undetected.

Incineration Technologies Cannot Make Clean, Renewable Energy

Washington, DC – As Congress considers the biggest global warming legislation to date, community health advocates are meeting with members of Congress in Washington, DC, this week to advocate for smart legislation that protects public health, the environment and the climate by not calling incineration “renewable energy.” These advocates from across the country are telling their elected officials that “Trash should not be treated as a renewable resource.”

Incineration is not climate friendly. The core destructive impacts of all types of incinerators are the same: Incinerators negatively impact public health, local economies, the climate and the environment. Giving federal subsidies to burn trash and biomass in incinerators to generate electricity obstructs far more sensible and effective strategies to conserve energy by reducing, recycling and composting the same materials.

As the House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce considers the “American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009,” a little known component of clean energy legislation is gaining traction. Big polluters and the waste incineration industry want to call burning garbage, landfill gas and biomass “renewable energy,” and have incinerators as part of the Renewable Electricity Standard. But municipal solid waste incinerators emit more carbon dioxide per unit of electricity produced than coal-fired power plants and emit indirect greenhouse gases such as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and others.

Pennsylvania Legislators Misguided on Energy

Any planner knows to look backwards before moving forward.  Remembering how the (soy)milk got knocked over last time we put it on the counter’s edge, we use history as our guide everyday.  However, Pennsylvania lawmakers appear to have dispensed with this type of reflective preparation.  In introducing House Bill 80, Pennsylvania legislators are poised to repeat our most egregious energy blunders – obligating taxpayers to fund an unsafe, unproven, energy intensive, and expensive new coal technology called carbon capture and sequestration (CCS).

The idea behind carbon capture technology is to capture the notorious greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, liquefy it (using tremendous amounts of energy), and then pump the carbon underground calling climate change stopped.

The problem is that continuing to burn coal as a fuel source also continues traditions of discrimination and injustice, traditions that routinely ‘sacrifice’ low-income communities and communities of color to deliver our energy needs.  Removing non-toxic carbon dioxide emissions does nothing to prevent or mitigate destructive mining practices, dangerous fly ash disposal, or pollution from combustion.  CCS fails to make efficiency programs, wind, or solar appear more quickly, and even industry experts admit that the technology (and the jobs it promises) won’t be available until 2020.

I’m not just crying over spilled milk.  Every dollar invested in renewable energy makes it less expensive, while every cent poured into fossil fuels makes it more expensive.  With PECO ratecaps coming off in the next two years, we cannot afford to promote archaic polluting fuels.