Exporting Coal -- The Green Hypocrisy

The governments (both state and federal) of our country have made it so difficult, if not illegal, for power companies to build new coal burning power plants that they have, for the most part, given up. If the government’s intention was actually to promote saving the planet then they would never agree to this and they would actually promote new, clean coal burning power plants on our own soil.

In the last year we have exported over 100 million tons of our own coal, most of which went to Asia. What part of this makes any sense? Instead of shipping the coal to our own modern power plants, where emissions would be monitored and power production could be kept at much lower rates, it is being shipped to our ports. Once at our ports, it is being loaded onto some of the world’s largest vessels and shipped to foreign countries all over the world so that they can produce inexpensive power.

The ships that transport the coal produce immense amounts of emissions. Once the coal reaches the foreign ports, it is transported to the location it is needed, again producing emissions. Then it is burned in power plants that are certainly nowhere near as clean and efficient as would be if burned in our own country. Once it is burned, the ash disposal regulations are not up to the same standards they are here either.

President Obama gambled away tax payers’ money by giving green energy companies ten billion dollars. Now, just a few years later, the list of these companies filing for bankruptcy is steadily growing, some with federal corruption charges pending. If the money had been spent on clean coal technologies, there would be at least two major benefits; less expensive domestic electricity and lower emissions on a global scale.

Windmills and solar panels are not the answer to our energy needs of the future, wind is far too unreliable and you can’t stop the sun from going down once a day. When the day comes that science discovers the energy source of the future, we will still have a long way to go and more obstacles to overcome. Until that time, we should be working on ways to burn coal cleaner, allowing the free market the time and resources to discover the energy breakthrough that I believe, will lead us to an energy revolution, just like coal powered the industrial revolution.