EPA Makes First Move to Control Coal Pollution; Coal States Freak Out

Coal plants are clearly harmless. Look at the happy geese!

Last Friday, the EPA released a proposal to restrict the carbon dioxide emissions of future coal plants. This is the first step of regulations under the Clean Air Act. The next step will be tackling the problem of pollution by current coal plants, which are the top source of CO2 emissions in the USA.

Natural gas has become a cheaper alternative to coal, so the industry hasn't been making many new coal plants anyway, but this proposal has been met with a roar of opposition in coal states. Because of this, I am primarily writing from a Fox News article which firmly takes the side of coal in the war of coal vs. the world.

According to this top conservative news source, the new restrictions could kill. The argument raised is that the only way to meet these restrictions would be to implement technology that is not yet in use, carbon capture. Carbon capture would take the illegal excess greenhouse gas emissions of the plant and redirect it underground. Fox's article argues that leaks of pure carbon dioxide are a legitimate risk and will suffocate its victims when it does so. In the same paragraph, the article states that the emissions are safe and harmless in the atmosphere, directly contradicting the findings of the global warming "theory."

The article gives the idea that the Obama administration is directly attacking the jobs and industry in coal states. There is no discussion of the fact that natural gas plants can easily meet these restrictions without the implementation of new technology, or of sustainable energy sources, only of the extreme cost and risk of carbon capture in future coal plants. I fret for the imminent opposition to future legislation that will actually put the squeeze on the coal industry.

Read about it here!
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/09/20/rules-that-could-kill-safety-cost-concerns-over-epa-new-coal-regs/#