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NEWS ABOUT: coal

coal stories: 29 news summaries

1 - 20 of 29 Stories | 1 2 Next >>

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ANALYSIS

Buffett's Railroad Buy
Is a (Smart) Bet on Coal

Growth in US economy will boost electricity demand

Nov 3, 09 5:56 PM CST
(Newser) - Berkshire Hathaway’s acquisition of railroad operator Burlington North Santa Fe is really a "huge bet" by Warren Buffett on the coal industry, writes Steve Gelsi . Burlington hauls more coal than anything else, and the material accounted for a quarter of its third-quarter revenue. Buffett already is heavily invested... More »

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coal • Warren Buffett • electricity • Berkshire Hathaway • railroad • Burlington Northern Santa Fe

Jeffrey Sachs

 Coal Harms the Planet 
 —and Owns the Senate 

Blame industry as well as ideology if US shirks Copenhagen

Oct 21, 09 8:32 AM CDT
(Newser) - As the world turns to Copenhagen this December, the US, which never ratified the Kyoto Protocol, may once again fail to sign up to save the world from serious climate change. Ideology plays a part, Jeffrey Sachs notes, as many Republican senators are "intent on derailing any Obama initiative.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
climate change • Barack Obama • environment • coal • Kyoto Protocol • coal mining • treaty • Copenhagen climate change conference • Jeffrey Sachs

Energy Lobby Split on Climate, Thrilling Greens

Natural gas companies squabble with Big Oil as Senate negotiates

Oct 19, 09 6:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - With the Senate set to consider legislation to tax carbon and rein in global warming, a split has emerged among the energy lobby that may make it easier to pass a clean-energy law. Natural gas producers favor a bill, while their colleagues in the oil industry oppose it; electric companies... More »

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oil • coal • Senate • renewable energy • natural gas • carbon taxes • oil industry • Waxman-Markey

(Newser) - China's inefficient power plants and heavy reliance on coal are dragging down global efforts to curb climate change, a Greenpeace report warned yesterday. The report found that major Chinese power companies are responsible for a huge amount of the country's coal use and emissions, with the top three producers alone... More »

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China • climate change • Greenpeace • coal • power plant • renewable energy • coal power • greenhouse-gas emissions

(Newser) - For years the government has estimated that the US has 240 years' worth of coal in the ground, causing officials to dub the US the “Saudi Arabia of Coal.” But that estimate may be grossly exaggerated, the Wall Street Journal reports. While there probably is 240 years'... More »

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energy • coal • coal mining

Industry Muffled Own Scientists on Warming

Coal, oil, companies suppressed experts' findings for years

Apr 24, 09 7:27 AM CDT
(Newser) - A coalition of industries linked to fossil fuels lobbied for more than a decade to cast doubt on global warming—while the companies' own scientists advised them that climate change was irrefutable, the New York Times reports. The Global Climate Coalition, financed by the oil, coal, and auto industries, conducted... More »

MORE ABOUT:
climate change • environment • global warming • Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change • coal • Kyoto Protocol • auto industry • carbon emissions • oil industry

(Newser) - Clean coal is a myth, and the companies selling it “have their heads stuck in the mine,” Thomas Kostigen writes on MarketWatch. Although Americans generate close to 50% of their energy from coal, the technology is so yesterday—and the industry is not poised to move forward. It... More »

MORE ABOUT:
energy • environment • alternative energy • coal • energy industry • electricity • coal power • clean coal

ANALYSIS

Plans for Clean Energy Get Dirty in Transmission

Firms use green hype to build power lines that could carry electricity from coal

Mar 23, 09 3:54 PM CDT
(Newser) - Plans to green the US power supply are in full swing, with the Obama administration working toward the goal of doubling the current supply of alternative energy over the next 3 years. But, some complain, power companies are using the popularity of green power to push through a needless—but... More »

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alternative energy • coal • electricity • renewable energy • solar power • wind power • turbines • transmission

 Coen Brothers' Ad
Knocks 'Clean Coal'

Filmmaking duo mock coal industry in ad for Al Gore green group

Feb 27, 09 3:59 AM CST
(Newser) - The Coen brothers chuck the notion of "clean coal" into the woodchipper in a new ad commissioned by Al Gore’s Reality Coalition, the Guardian reports. The ad, which the filmmaking duo directed for the anti-coal environmental group, features a salesman spraying black smog from a can marked "... More »

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coal • film director • advertisements • Coen brothers • Joel Coen • Ethan Coen • clean coal

Tennessee Tests Massive Sludge Spill for Toxins

Huge spill of coal ash has locals worried

Dec 25, 08 5:02 AM CST
(Newser) - EPA officials are working through Christmas running tests on a river of sludge that inundated 400 acres in Tennessee, the Tennessean reports. The gloop, coal ash waste that spilled from a power plant retention pond early Monday, is suspected of containing high levels of arsenic, lead, mercury, and other toxins.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
coal • Tennessee • toxic waste • Tennessee Valley Authority • TVA

 Court Reinstates 
 Bush Clean Air Rule 

Federal judges reverse position on clean air rule, giving Obama time to replace it

Dec 24, 08 6:05 AM CST
(Newser) - A federal appeals court has decided that a flawed clean air law is better than no clean air law, the New York Times reports. Reversing an earlier judgment, the court ruled to temporarily reinstate the Clean Air Interstate Rule—which limits emissions from coal-fired power plants in 28 states—while... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Bush administration • pollution • coal • Clean Air Act • Environmental Protection Agency • coal power • EPA

 River of Sludge 
 Wipes Out 
 Tenn. Homes 

Hundreds of acres look like a moonscape after coal plant's pond collapses

Dec 24, 08 4:43 AM CST
(Newser) - A 500 million gallon spill of potentially toxic goop escaped from a Tennessee power plant to destroy the landscape, wreck 15 homes and contaminate local rivers, reports CNN. The sludgy residue of coal burning busted through the walls of a containing pond. Up to 400 acres have been coated in... More »

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coal • Tennessee • toxic waste • Tennessee Valley Authority • coal power

 Slump May Doom 
 Clean Energy Initiatives 

Some nations could fall back on fossil fuel

Nov 25, 08 12:25 PM CST
(Newser) - Just as global warming initiatives were gaining serious momentum around the world, the financial crisis looks like it's undermining both the political will and the math that support them, the New York Times reports. With gas prices plummeting, US automakers may be scaling back investment in new technology. In Europe,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
climate change • Barack Obama • global warming • coal • fossil fuel • green energy • clean energy • Big Three • T. Boone Pickens • economy • solar panels • wind farm

OPINION

 Green Fight Will Be 
 Obama's Costliest 

President-elect knows he must do better than Bush, and has political capital to do it

Nov 5, 08 4:43 PM CST
(Newser) - Barack Obama must move quickly to address climate change, and it could be very unpopular politically, Bill McKibben writes in Yale Environment 360. In fact, the measures necessary to save our planet could very well “wreck his political future, because it would involve—directly or indirectly—raising the cost... More »

MORE ABOUT:
climate change • Barack Obama • environment • coal • Election 2008 • carbon emissions

Palin: Chronicle Suppressed Obama Coal Interview

Paper: It's been online since January

Nov 3, 08 7:07 AM CST
(Newser) - Sarah Palin apparently believes the San Francisco Chronicle suppressed a January interview with Barack Obama, in which he threatens to bankrupt the coal industry. “You gotta listen to the tape,” Palin told an Ohio crowd yesterday. “Why is this audio tape just now surfacing? This interview... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • media • San Francisco • cap and trade • coal • coal power • Election 2008 • media bias • Sarah Palin

OPINION

Next Prez Will Have to Save
the Planet

Winner of election will immediately have to combat climate change

Aug 28, 08 2:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - Whether it's John McCain or Barack Obama, the next US president will instantly face "the most momentous political challenge of all time"—saving the world from catastrophic climate change, Carlos Pascual and Strobe Talbott write in the Washington Post. We have 7 years to begin reducing greenhouse gas... More »

MORE ABOUT:
climate change • Barack Obama • John McCain • greenhouse gases • coal • carbon emissions • carbon caps

Energy Firm to Tell Investors
of Risks From Global Warming

Xcel agrees to first pact of its kind with NY AG

Aug 28, 08 8:56 AM CDT
(Newser) - A major builder of coal-fired power plants has agreed to fully inform investors of the risks global warming poses to its business in a landmark deal with New York's attorney general. Green groups hope the agreement by Xcel Energy will spur other firms to follow suit, reports the New York ... More »

MORE ABOUT:
energy • coal • energy industry • Andrew Cuomo • carbon emissions • greenhouse-gas emissions

 China's Power
 Pollution to Pass US

CO2 emissions will double over next 12 years, think tank predicts

Aug 27, 08 6:56 AM CDT
(Newser) - Carbon emissions from China's mostly coal-fired electric power industry will exceed those of the US this year for the first time, the Washington Post reports. China's runaway economic growth means its power industry's carbon emissions will double by 2020, predicts the Center for Global Development, a Washington-based think tank. Power... More »

MORE ABOUT:
China • climate change • India • coal • CO2 • coal power • carbon emissions • power industry • Center for Global Development

analysis

 'Clean Coal'
 Advocates 
 Blowing 
 Smoke 

Investing in carbon sequestration "reckless"

Jul 17, 08 11:31 AM CDT
(Newser) - “Clean coal” is the buzzword of the moment, with industry groups and presidential candidates swearing by a work-in-progress technique known as carbon capture and storage (CCS), which ultimately buries carbon dioxide emissions deep underground. But Jeff Goodell, writing in Yale Environment 360, doesn’t buy it. “We don’... More »

MORE ABOUT:
climate change • environment • coal • coal power • carbon emissions • carbon sequestration

High Costs Put Clean Coal
on Back Burner

Plans to scrub coal-plant emissions hit money wall

May 30, 08 2:45 AM CDT
(Newser) - Ambitious plans to combat global warming by pumping carbon dioxide from coal-burning power plants into the ground have been delayed or canned due to spiraling costs, the New York Times reports. Scientists now fear that the next generation of coal-burning plants will be built using old, emission-spewing technology, spelling disaster... More »

MORE ABOUT:
climate change • carbon dioxide • global warming • coal • power plant • coal power • carbon emissions • Department of Energy

1 - 20 of 29 Stories | 1 2 Next >>


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