Pennsylvania Could Turn Forests Into CO2 Dumping Ground
by Anonymous - May 8th, 2008
A new report from Pennsylvania's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) recommends using the state's public forests as an underground dumping ground for CO2 captured from coal plants.
The agency's twisted reasoning follows, from John Quigley, chief of staff:
Coal is with us and will be part of the energy mix for the foreseeable future, but if we want to avoid frying the planet, we're going to have to do something about controlling carbon emissions.
What is the fastest way for that to happen? Well, we've advanced the idea that public lands should be part of the mix.
Except for one thing: Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) -- as it's called -- isn't a quick fix at all.
The Cambridge Energy Research Associates, a conservative, coal-friendly think tank, says the technology is a good two decades away from commercial application -- and that's its best-case scenario. The US Department of Energy has arrived at essentially the same conclusion.
That means CCS won't be ready to go before today's first graders finish high school, probably college and quite possibly graduate school, as we've reported previously.
And it's not economic either. Straight from the DOE, again: Renewable energy is currently cheaper than CCS.
But coal-heavy Pennsylvania owns the mineral rights under 85 percent of its 2.1 million acres of public land, so legally it would be a snap to transform a big chunk of its forests into carbon sinks. Good thing it will require legislative approval to actually happen. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail in the end.
Here's a dose of common sense from Jeff Schmidt, lobbyist for the Sierra Club:
I'm a little leery about making public land available when our carbon emissions have increased by 11% over the last five years. I'd like to see more of a focus on reducing emissions from existing sources...
We know coal will be part of the energy mix, but right now it is supplying 58% of our electricity and we're addicted. We need to be pursuing alternative energy sources to wean ourselves off of it.
Meanwhile, Quigley claims he's "ahead of the curve."
How exactly? NET says Pennsylvania emits more greenhouse gases than 105 developing nations combined. Being ahead of the curve means doing something about that.
It means investing in renewable energy sources today, rather than giving protection to dirty coal by banking on pie-in-the-sky, "clean coal" technologies that may never be.
Simple.
Source: Pittsburgh Post Gazette
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The earth stopped warming 10 years ago. The last 16 months it has been strongly cooling. April was below the 114 year average. The oceans have cooled. The best explanation I've read is to look the sunspots and the fact that cycle 24 has not developed.
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