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Sierra Club Currents - Liquid Coal: Too Expensive for China's Taste Quote of Note: "I call this the national energy suicide bill. This bill does nothing for coal. It does nothing to get more natural gas or about our ability to produce any more oil on shore and off shore. It discourages it." -- Rep. Don Young (R-AK) on House Natural Resource's committee's energy bill. (1) Liquid Coal: Too Expensive for China's Taste (2) Victory: Coal Gets a Bad Investment Rating (3) Take Action: Save Wild Alaskan Forests! (4) Take Action: Support Energy Efficiency Standards! (1) Liquid Coal: Too Expensive for China's Taste Though many in Congress have refused to see the drawbacks of creating a new multi-billion dollar, polluting liquid coal industry, China has seen the light. The Chinese government has announced that it is considering suspending its planned $13 billion dollar liquid coal facility because of the high energy, water and monetary costs associated with the plant. Congress should look beyond the big checks from King Coal and follow China's lead in abandoning flawed liquid coal plans and look instead to cheaper, cleaner, smarter energy choices. Learn more about liquid coal. Photo courtesy Cohdra. (2) Victory: Coal Gets a Bad Investment Rating In a huge victory, Florida officials voted unanimously against a huge proposed coal plant near the Everglades, saying the new plant would not be the most cost-effective way to provide energy to consumers. The officials sided with the Sierra Club and other environmental groups in saying that Florida could meet its energy needs with cleaner, less costly options. The proposed plant would have been one of the largest single sources of global warming causing carbon dioxide in the nation. Find out more about our clean energy options. (3) Take Action:Save Wild Alaskan Forests! Known as America's Rainforest, the Tongass National Forest is our nation's most significant tract of old-growth forest and provide abundant habitat for a diversity of fish and wildlife species, many of which have declined substantially in the lower 48 states. Now the Forest Service is planning new logging roads and timber sales in this wild roadless forest, despite the fact that the Forest Service typically loses an average of $40 million each year logging this area. It's time for Congress to take common sense action to eliminate these destructive practices. Urge your member of Congress to stop subsidies for logging in the Tongass! Photo courtesy U.S. Forest Service (4) Take Action: Support Energy Efficiency Standards! In order to achieve energy independence and curb global warming we must increase energy efficiency. We need an energy efficiency standard that will move America toward the 80% reductions in greenhouse gases that scientists say are necessary to avoid the worst consequences of global warming. By making better use of the electricity we already produce, we can not only save 300 million metric tons of global warming causing carbon dioxide by 2020, but consumers can also save a total of $26 billion. Urge your Senators to support Energy Efficiency Standards! |
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Currents is the Sierra Club's weekly e-mail update providing you with facts, stories, quotes, and "take action" features. |