[Biofuel] 'Reality' Coalition Launches Campaign Debunking 'Clean Coal' Myth
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2008/12/04-4 December 4, 2008 12:11 PM CONTACT: Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Julia Bovey, 202-289-2420 'Reality' Coalition Launches Campaign Debunking 'Clean Coal' Myth Calls on Coal Industry to Live up to the Promise of So-Called 'Clean Coal' MENLO PARK, Calif. - December 4 - Today, the Alliance for Climate Protection, League of Conservation Voters, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club launched the Reality Coalition, a national grassroots and advertising effort to tell a simple truth: in reality, there is no such thing as clean coal. Environmental experts agree that coal is the dirtiest fuel America uses to produce electricity. The Reality Coalition, then, is challenging the coal industry to come clean - in its advertising andin its operations. Coal cannot be considered clean until its carbon dioxide emissions are captured and stored. The reality is that there's not a single home or business in America today powered by clean coal, said Brian Hardwick of the Alliance for Climate Protection. If coal really wants to be part of America's energy future, the industry can start by making a real commitment to eliminating their pollution that is a leading cause of global warming. Hardwick continued: It is high time for the coal industry to come clean and admit to the American people that today clean coal is not a reality. No matter how much they say it in their advertising, coal can't truly be clean until the plants can capture the global warming pollution. With so much at stake, we can't afford to hang our hats on an illusion. Beginning today, the Reality Coalition will launch a multi-million dollar ad campaign, running in print, broadcast and online media and supported by the website, www.ThisIsReality.org. The ads were designed and produced by Boulder, Colorado-based Crispin Porter + Bogusky, the agency responsible for the ground-breaking Truth anti-tobacco campaign. The first Reality print ad shows a solitary door labeled Clean Coal Facility Entrance. Behind the door, though, lies a barren field. In reality, there's no such thing as clean coal, the ad states. The ad continues: Coal is one of the leading causes of global warming. But that hasn't stopped the coal industry from advertising clean coal. Yet, the truth is there isn't a single commercial coal plant in America today that captures its global warming pollution. Learn more about what the coal industry is not telling you ... Reality's first TV ad follows the same premise and can be viewed at www.thisisreality.org. The coal industry has spent hundreds of millions promoting 'clean coal' technology, but in reality, there is not a single large-scale demonstration project in the United States for capturing and safely burying all of coal's CO2 emissions, Vice President Gore said. The industry must make good its promise if they truly want to do their part to solve the climate crisis. Until that happens, coal cannot be called 'clean'. The Reality Coalition today echoes the call made by former Vice President and Alliance for Climate Protection Chairman Al Gore in a recent New York Times op-ed that until coal is truly clean, there should be no new coal-fired power plants built in America. The coal industry is running a cynical and dishonest campaign to mislead the American people, while they stand in the way of real solutions, said Gene Karpinski, President of the League of Conservation Voters. The 'Reality' Coalition is aimed at holding them accountable for their outlandish claims. Added Natural Resources Defense Council President Frances Beinecke: Big coal is spending millions to make us think that coal use today is 'clean.' But all their dirty money can't hide the truth -- coal as it's used today is the dirtiest climate-killing fuel on earth. Everyone has a role to play in creating our clean energy future, said Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope. It's time for the coal industry to stop fighting against efforts to bring about a green economy and instead start living up to its clean coal rhetoric. We need to clean up coal, not spend billions on a scheme to market coal as clean, said Larry Schweiger, President and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. It's time to build a better energy future with existing clean sources like wind and solar that will create jobs, boost our economy and confront the climate crisis head-on. About the Reality Coalition The Reality Campaign is sponsored by the Reality Coalition, a joint project of the Alliance for Climate Protection, League of Conservation Voters, Natural Resources Defense Council, National Wildlife Federation and Sierra Club. The Reality Campaign tells the truth about coal today -- it isn't clean. We are challenging the coal industry to come clean -- in its advertising and in its operations. ### The Natural
[Biofuel] 'Reality' Coalition: A dangerous game
http://www.precaution.org/lib/08/prn_reality_coalition.081204.htm From: Rachel's Democracy Health News #988 Thursday, December 4, 2008 A dangerous game [Rachel's introduction: A new reality coalition has challenged the coal industry to live up to the promise of so-called clean coal. But how serious is this new coalition?] By Peter Montague Five big enviro groups have just launched a new campaign to force the coal industry to put up or shut up about clean coal. The Alliance for Climate Protection, League of Conservation Voters, National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and Sierra Club this week launched the Reality Coalition, an advertising campaign to -- in their own words -- tell a simple truth: in reality, there is no such thing as 'clean coal.' The first Reality print ad shows a solitary door labeled Clean Coal Facility Entrance. Behind the door, though, lies a barren field. In reality, there's no such thing as clean coal, the ad says. Reality's first TV ad follows the same premise and can be viewed at http://www.thisisreality.org/. The reality coalition is responding to the coal industry's own multi-million dollar ad campaign claiming that clean coal is the answer to global warming. The coal industry defines clean coal as power plants that capture roughly 85% of their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, turn the CO2 into a liquid, transport it via pipeline to a suitable location, and bury it a mile or so below ground, hoping it will stay there forever (thus passing today's problem on to future generations). Surprisingly, the reality coalition accepts the coal industry's definition of clean coal -- merely capturing most CO2 emissions and burying them in the ground. This is a very narrow definition of clean. How dirty is coal? Let me count the ways. A new report from Greenpeace International discusses the following problems created by dependence on coal: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/true-cost-coal Effects of mining coal: Deforestation, soil erosion, water shortages, coal fires, greenhouse gas emissions, lower water tables, destruction of mountains, dust particles and debris in surrounding communities, destruction of surrounding plant life, pollution of nearby water bodies through runoff, displacement of communities due to mining, coal fires, landslides and contaminated water supplies, plus black lung disease. Effects of burning coal: Water shortages from cooling of power plants and washing of coal, air pollution and smog, serious mercury pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, acid rain, and widespread lung disease from fine and ultrafine particles. Effects after burning: Abandoned mines, destroyed communities, altered landscapes, soil damage and water pollution from acid mine drainage, destruction of fish and aquatic animals, collapsing mines causing structural damage to nearby roads, bridges and buildings, kidney disease, and cancer, plus every year U.S. coal plants produce 120 million tons of toxic coal combustion wastes laced with lead, arsenic and cadmium, most of which gets buried in the ground, creating toxic time bombs. But the reality coalition says only, Coal cannot be considered clean until its carbon dioxide emissions are captured and stored. And: No matter how much they say it in their advertising, coal can't truly be clean until the plants can capture the global warming pollution. Surely a coalition of major environmental groups can see that there is more to cleaning up coal than merely burying CO2 in the ground. The reality coalition seems to be playing a dangerous game. The way the reality campaign is framed, it invites the coal industry to meet the challenge by merely creating a few demonstration projects, which will then be used to claim that clean coal has arrived. Indeed, one small demonstration plant is already operating in Germany, and coal executives are already claiming it demonstrates that clean coal is real. The reality coalition has not defined what would constitute an adequate demonstration of clean coal. If the goal is to bury trillions of tons of CO2 in the ground and keep it there for, say, 2000 years -- how could you demonstrate success? Yes, you can stick a pipe in the ground and pump liquid CO2 into it for five years. But the day you declare the demonstration a success, leakage could begin the next day. So how can such a demonstration ever be declared a success? And if a demonstration occurs under laboratory conditions for a few years, does that mean that trillions of tons of CO2 can then be safely pumped into the ground for the next 50 years in China, India, Russia and who knows where else? Are regulatory authorities in those countries even as vigilant as the sleepy agencies we tolerate in the U.S.? Unless we specify what constitutes an adequate demonstration of carbon dioxide burial, and show that humans have the capacity to monitor
[Biofuel] Reality
An Israeli Commission has criticized the Government and the Military not for fighting the war but for losing it. Israeli Commissions have always been criticizing and condemning Israeli Government and Military crimes and failures, but it has changed nothing on the ground. In what way might we expect these findings to change anything with regard to Palestine, Lebanon, or Israeli/US involvement in Iraq, Iran, Syria, or Afghanistan? Are they going to rethink, revise, or throw out all those plans for Eretz Israel just because some damn fool lost a war? Will they shut down Mossad and the infiltration forces they have deployed into all of the political and government machines in most of the Western world? All of this stuff looks good, feels good and sounds good... but it stinks to High Heaven, wherever that is! I think, once we have wrapped the fish in all of these reports, we can forget them, and get on with the real war. http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/20080130_israel_inquiry_slams_political_and_military_leaders/ -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/attachments/20080203/07467b7d/attachment.html ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
[Biofuel] Reality TV meets America at Rock Bottom
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/neutralizing_the_flipflop_charge.php Robert L. Borosage, Co-Director, Campaign for America's Future Last night, Americans finally got a glimpse of reality. The truth about the growing debacle in Iraq got some exposure-as did George Bush's continued, impatient and scornful denial of that reality. Bush stayed on message, repeating his memorized attack lines over and over, but he couldn't hide the inescapable reality: Iraq is a catastrophe and the president offers only more of the same. Bush had every advantage going into the debate. As a wartime president, he could hide behind the sacrifice of the soldiers. His attack dogs had bloodied John Kerry badly over the past weeks. Worried about a stature gap, his negotiators had even insured that TV would mask the difference in their height. But Kerry's strong performance put the reality about Iraq before the American people. Everything the president told us about the war in Iraq turned out to be false. Hussein wasn't a threat. He had no weapons of mass destruction. He wasn't connected to September 11 or al Qaeda. We weren't greeted as heroes. The president had no plan for the occupation. The troops were exposed without proper forces, equipment or training. The debacle distracted from the pursuit of bin Laden and provided al Qaeda with recruits from across the world. It has cost us dearly in lives and lucre. It has left America more isolated, less admired and less safe. And the debate revealed that the president is still in denial, abrupt and uncomfortable when faced with the truth. He still paints Saddam-who before the war was a delusional dictator, his weapons dismantled, his army in tatters, his country in shambles, his mind distracted by novels and fantasy-as a threat. He still denies the worsening catastrophe on the ground in Iraq. He still ignores the basic failures on security at home. The structured formats of presidential debates usually make for bad acting and hokey pre-baked gestures. But last night, reality impinged. And the country saw a president who misled us into a horror-and offers only more of the same. With every grimace, every repeat of pat attack lines, President Bush reinforced John Kerry's argument that we need a new president who can face reality and struggle with what are now horrible choices to change our course. ___ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/
[biofuel] Reality Check: It's Business as Usual
Reality Check: It's Business as Usual By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman The predominant view in Washington right now is that the corporate reformers are in control. President Bush's Wall Street speech last week was a bomb, immediately discarded in Washington circles as containing proposals that were too weak to constitute serious reform. The Senate has passed an accounting reform bill that actually contains provisions that would at least partially address some of the worst abuses of the Enron, WorldCom and other corporate scandals. Last week, it passed amendments that would strengthen criminal penalties for securities fraud, and that require company executives to take responsibility for the information appearing in their financial statements. Conservative economist Jude Wanniski says the Senate is making it a crime to do business in the United States. Representative Michael Oxley, R-Ohio, says summary executions [for CEOs committing fraud] would get 85 votes in the Senate right now. Intel CEO Andy Grove complains in the Washington Post that he and other CEOs feel like class aliens, victims of social stigma and unfairly labeled as a group of untrustworthy, venal individuals. Sometimes, the emotional peaks get so high in Washington that people lose their ability to think clearly. The microscopic, snapshot focus on a particular matter at a particular moment in time causes politicians and commentators alike to lose all perspective. In fact, Congress and the Bush administration continue as never before to shower benefits and perquisites on Big Business. Consider the president's Wall Street speech and a follow up earlier this week in Alabama. Bush reminded his audiences that he and the Congress passed the biggest tax cut in a generation, and urged that the 10-year tax cuts be made permanent. That tax cut dropped corporate tax payments to historic lows as a percentage of gross domestic product, and heaped more than half of its benefits on the richest 1 percent of the U.S. population. Bush asked Congress to join me to promote free trade -- meaning that Congress should support fast-track trade authority for negotiation of new trade deals, including one for all of North, Central and South America, modeled on NAFTA. Both houses of Congress have approved fast-track trade authority, but still have to reconcile their bills in a complicated process which may yet falter. Fast-track -- which establishes in law the priority of commercial interests over health, safety, environmental and other citizen protections -- is atop the Chamber of Commerce's legislative wish list, and opposed by labor unions, environmentalists, consumer groups, human rights organizations and citizen groups. Bush further requested the provision of terrorism insurance, which is by and large unneeded. The administration-favored plan would constitute a massive giveaway to the insurance industry, which would receive a giant subsidy from the federal government at no charge. And it is not as if this administration and Congress have not already been exceedingly generous to Big Business. Both houses have passed versions of an energy bill that will sweep aside the federal energy regulatory regime, freeing energy utilities to consolidate and enter other industries -- an approach strikingly similar to the financial deregulation and integration that helped precipitate the current financial crisis. The two major parties have engaged in a grotesque competition to pour more and more money into the Pentagon. An emergency supplemental appropriations bill lavished billions more onto a bloated defense budget that is approaching $400 billion annually. What a gift for Lockheed, Boeing, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman. Earlier this month, the Congress acted to enable plans to ship radioactive waste through towns and cities across the country, for disposal at Yucca Mountain, in Nevada. This deadly gamble -- risking the accidental release of radioactive waste en route (prompting critics to call the scheme Mobile Chernobyl), or leakage into water supplies at Yucca Mountain -- is vital to the hopes of the nuclear industry not just to continue, but to expand operations. And the pending appropriations bills will shower on large corporations a wide array of subsidies and benefits totaling tens of billions of dollars. Apocalyptic rhetoric notwithstanding, Washington continues to coddle the corporate elite. Only beginning with campaign contributions, the corrupting influence of corporate money and power seeps into every pore of Washington. Washington policymakers by and large are not acting to restrain corporate abuses, they are continuing to aid and abet them. Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter. Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Multinational Monitor, http://www.multinationalmonitor.org. They are co-authors of Corporate Predators: The Hunt for MegaProfits and the Attack on Democracy
