Coalfields Turn Into Battlefields

The Wall Street Journal

Coalfields Turn Into Battlefields
Push for New Plants Divides Democrats In Rural, City Areas
By STEPHEN POWER in Wise, Virginia, and NICK TIMIRAOS in Levittown, Pa.
April 14, 2008; Page A6

The race for the Democratic nomination hinges on a handful of states where coal is still king. That puts Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in a bind: how to attack global warming without threatening an industry that provides half the U.S.'s electricity and more than 80,000 mining jobs. Campaigning in the Pennsylvania presidential primary this month, Senators Clinton and Obama are championing technology to capture and store carbon-dioxide emissions from coal -- while vowing to invest in renewable energies such as wind and solar power.

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In Kansas, rural Democratic lawmakers joined Republicans in opposition to Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius's decision to reject two new coal-fired plants that would have brought $3.6 billion in investment to the state. In New Mexico, Navajo leaders are sparring with Gov. Bill Richardson, who opposes their effort to build a coal-fired plant to bring jobs to the Navajo reservation. Both governors said the projects would contribute to global warming. In Virginia, Democrats at opposite ends of the state are clashing over a $1.8 billion coal-fired power plant proposed for the state's impoverished southwest corner. Governor Tim Kaine backs the plant even as he vows to cut greenhouse gas emissions -- a stance that has confounded many supporters in the state's affluent northern suburbs.

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These state-level skirmishes are forerunners of the debate taking shape in Washington over how to address global warming. Democratic congressional leaders -- and all three remaining Democratic and Republican presidential candidates -- advocate the creation of a "cap-and-trade" system that would place limits on carbon-dioxide emissions and let companies buy or sell rights to pollute. That support masks significant differences over how to cap emissions without hurting industries that rely heavily on coal. Democrats from rural states that rely on coal for electricity support legislation that would allocate some emissions credits for free to utilities and other large carbon-dioxide emitters.

Other Democrats, including Senators Obama and Clinton, say all pollution credits should be auctioned, to ensure that companies don't obtain windfall profits. Some, such as Reps. Henry Waxman of California and Edward Markey of Massachusetts, want to put an immediate halt to construction of any new coal-burning plants that lack technology to sequester carbon dioxide emissions. Many experts say that the technology is years from widespread commercial viability. The Energy Department withdrew its support for a project to test such technology in January after huge cost overruns. Groups funded by the coal industry and its allies are spending heavily to bolster public support for coal, and to reinforce fears that limits on its use will raise living costs. A Virginia-based group called Americans for Balanced Energy Choices is spending as much as $40 million on TV ads and other outreach efforts.

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Some environmentalists have questioned Mr. Kaine's motives for supporting the proposed plant. Since 2001, Dominion has contributed more than $230,000 to Mr. Kaine's campaign coffers, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, a group that tracks campaign contributions in Virginia. Mr. Kaine says Dominion's donations haven't influenced him, adding, "I'm sure I've received as much or more from people on the other side of this issue."


URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120812993624711511.html (subscription)

Hopefully, one of the coalfield activists I know has a subscription to the WSJ. I'd like to read the article in its entirety.

Thanks for posting.

K & R