HM3 Energy, Inc.
Coal-fired power challenges
Challenges on the rise for Wyoming coal
- Billings Gazette, January 28, 2010
The coal industry faces a multitude of mounting challenges, from the cost of production and transportation to more stringent pollution controls and a more competitive market. That means utilities are constantly flirting with a switch to natural gas, energy efficiency and renewables...[Read more]
PGE plan suggests shorter time frame to close Boardman coal-fired power plant
- The Oregonian, January 14, 2010
In a letter Thursday to the Oregon Public Utility Commission, the state's largest utility said it is pursuing an alternative to its existing operating plan for its Boardman coal plant, located bout 150 miles east of Portland. That plan calls for PGE to invest more than a half billion dollars in pollution controls at the plant by 2017 to comply with federal and state clean air regulations, then keep it running until 2040.
PGE still has an unamortized investment in the Boardman coal plant of $125 million. Writing that sum off over the next 10 years, rather than 30, would increase customer rates by one to two percent, the utility estimates. Replacing Boardman's stable output of more than 500 megawatts of electricity would also be costly...[Read more]
E.P.A. announces strict new health standards for smog
By the Associated Press, January 7, 2010
Smog is a respiratory irritant that has been linked to asthma attacks and other illnesses. Global warming is expected to make it worse, since smog is created when emissions from cars, power and chemical plants, refineries and other factories mix in sunlight and heat...[Read more]
Coal's Assault on Human Health
PDF publication by Physicians for Social Responsibility - November 2009
This report takes a new look at the devastating impacts of coal on the human body. Coal combustion releases mercury, particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and dozens of other substances know n to be hazardous to human health...[Read more]
Los Angeles will end use of coal-fired power
Reuters, July 2, 2009
Los Angeles will eliminate the use of electricity made from coal by 2020, replacing it with power from cleaner renewable energy source, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said... [Read more]
State pushed to limit TransAlta emissions
The Columbian, July 21, 2009
In what could become a national test case, four national and regional conservations groups have told the Southwest CClean Air Agency that it has "the legal mandate and the moral obligation" to limit carbon dioxide emissions from Washington's only coal-fired electrical plant .. [Read more]
NEWS
To read about pressures on major coal-fired power plants in the western U.S. to reduce carbon and toxic emissions
To read about replacing coal with biomass
To read about utilizing forest waste
For links to useful websites regarding sustainable power sources