Creation Care Corner

I recently read a couple of articles from the Union of Concerned Scientists’ magazine. Following are some excerpts: “Last year, coal’s share of the US electricity mix hit a new low; just 15 percent, down from 50 percent a quarter-century ago. It’s no surprise why. As a source of electricity, coal is more expensive than the alternatives, less efficient than the alternatives, responsible for significant harms to the environment and people’s health- including asthma, cancer, and other debilitating conditions – and has claimed more than 100,000 US lives from the mining process alone. But for purely political reasons, the current presidential administration is attempting to bring coal back.”
“What the administration is doing, aided by the majority in Congress, will without question slow the transition to cleaner, safer, and more affordable energy.” “Still, with all of that, there is no doubt … that a clean energy future is where we’re going. The opportunity costs of all this time wasted are enormous. Enormous!”
“The administration is taking actions that are very real-and very illegal-to ease the path for coal. Things like rolling back pollution limits on coal power plants, …easing permitting processes, forbidding consideration of the costs of climate change, and declaring an intention to not enforce environmental and health standards for any part of the energy sector” are in the works. Even with all this, coal-fired power generation has been on a long-term decline as a share of the US electricity mix for years…” It’s possible we will see a temporary plateau, but coal is on its way out.
The administration’s policies also slash health protections for coal miners and end investments for communities transitioning toward cleaner options. People don’t want to return to the polluting past, now that they’ve seen the opportunities of a clean energy transition. We will get to a clean energy future, but it will be at a far higher cost due to these avoidable delays.
Some good news from Maine: “A new law signed by Gov. Janet Mills in June sets up the state to source all of its power from the wind, sun, and other carbon-free electricity sources by 2040.” This is expected to help reduce health- and climate-harming emissions, lower energy costs for consumers, and create new jobs by adopting stronger clean energy policies. This shows that states can make progress without federal support.
From the New York Times: the Environmental Protection Administration is reversing the 2009 “endangerment finding” that established carbon dioxide and methane as posing a threat to human lives. The EPA administrator argues that climate regulations on auto manufacturers harms human health because it “leads to higher prices and reduced consumer choice.”
Sandy McKitrick, Climate Care Team