On April 15, Maine Gov. John Baldacci signed a bill requiring the state Board of Environmental Protection to develop greenhouse gas emission standards for coal gasification -- making Maine the first state in the nation to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.
"Maine has been in the forefront in protecting our natural resources, our environment and our public health," Governor Baldacci said. "This bill continues Maine's leadership."
The bill also imposes a moratorium on building any new coal gasification facilities until the standards are developed. This new carbon emissions limit comes on the heels of the state rejecting the Twin River coal-fired power plant. That plant had come to Maine promising a clean coal solution to global warming -- but it turned out that their proposal would have been the largest climate polluter in the state, emitting more than twice the carbon dioxide emissions of any other plant.
This isn't the first time the coal industry has promised "clean" coal, only to have it end up being more polluting.
Hispanic Voters Say Global Warming is a Major Threat
The Sierra Club and Bendixen & Associates released a historic survey of Hispanic voters Wednesday. Among its many findings, "The National Survey of Hispanic Voters on Environmental Issues" revealed that the more than three-quarters of those polled think that global warming will bring about the melting of the polar caps and rising sea levels, resulting in catastrophic flooding throughout coastal areas.
You can read the full results on the Sierra Club's Latino Partnerships site.
Climate Expert Underestimated Threats from Global Warming
Did you see the news last week from UK global warming expert Nicholas Stearn? From the Reuters article, Stearns said he "under-estimated the threat from global warming in a major report 18 months ago when he compared the economic risk to the Great Depression of the 1930s."
Stearn tells Reuters just how much he underestimated it: "Emissions are growing much faster than we'd thought, the absorptive capacity of the planet is less than we'd thought, the risks of greenhouse gases are potentially bigger than more cautious estimates, and the speed of climate change seems to be faster.”
Want to do something about global warming?
Earth Day was this week, after all. Head over the Sierra Club Earth Day site to learn how we can beat global warming.
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