By J Moore

July 11, 2008 7:57 AM | Link to this

No, but Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are.

By BoneHead

July 11, 2008 8:42 AM | Link to this

J Moore, you are 100% correct!

By Benevolus

July 11, 2008 8:46 AM | Link to this

Main reason the Sierra Club doesn’t like coal-powered power plants is due to the environmental effects of mining the coal. They tout solar, hydroelectric, and wind as sources of energy, but if we are serious about becoming energy independent we will need to invest in new clean coal-powered plants, nuclear, and domestic oil. Without these “big 3” we will remain dependent on foreign oil and energy prices will continue to increase and restrict our economy.

By Kris

July 11, 2008 9:02 AM | Link to this

The coal plant that just got shot down by the Georgia courts (after much protest from the Sierra Club) featured some of the cleanest coal technology available. Now that the plant will not be built, where do you think we are going to get our increased power needs from? Existing old dirty coal plants, of course! I don’t think the Sierra Club is thinking this one through…

By AH

July 11, 2008 9:10 AM | Link to this

Wow.

How stupid can these people get. I’m sure that if we got rid of coal, nuclear, Nat. gas, oil, etc… and start burning bat s** or some such fuel they will still complain.

By DaveD

July 11, 2008 9:22 AM | Link to this

Yeah… creating electricity from the sun would suck right? The only thing killing people…are the very ones that voted for Bush and Co. You are all personally responsible for your “collateral” damage that has killed hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi’s.

By Jimbo I

July 11, 2008 9:25 AM | Link to this

Well, we’re coming a long way and have come a long way in scrubbing technology, carbon sequestration, and we can even develop an alternative fuel called “green crude” from algae that feed on the carbon exhaust from coal plants. I think that these advances in technology and the relative inexpensive nature of coal (though it is seriously rising in price now) that we will be reliant on it for years to come and that if it’s done right we can use it effectively and relatively cleanly as a viable fuel source.

I don’t think the chief issue is our coal, I think the chief issue is China and India’s coal. Those guys still have people who rely on coal cakes for every day cooking and they mercury and whatnot is starting to show up in the water of OUR west coast.

By JackLeg

July 11, 2008 10:04 AM | Link to this

DavidD, get over it, Bush is leaving, and just incase you did not read it; this is about fuel consumption, not Bush. Can you please tell me how you tie your shoes with all that hate spewing towards Bush?

By CommunistAJC

July 11, 2008 10:18 AM | Link to this

DaveD, How do you create electricity from the sun? I guess Edison got the whole electricity wrong, right? Please take your meds and go back to bed.

By DaveD

July 11, 2008 10:28 AM | Link to this

By the solar panels on top of my house you talibangelical prick…. funny how the Bubble Boy administration is allowing gas and oil companies leases on federal land to drill and explore for oil…yet it won’t allow any leases for 2 years for solar stations on those same lands…so they can do a friggin’ “environmental impact” study…. yeah…the oil and gas exploration does nothing harmful to the land…

Go back to reading your bible again…you might have missed something important written a couple of thousand years ago by people who thought the world was flat and did not know why it rained…

By Jimbo I

July 11, 2008 10:31 AM | Link to this

Hey DaveD. Right now there are a bunch of solar powered cars racing across the midwest. They are covered in solar cells that you can break with your thumb and generate about as much power as a hair dryer, weigh about 400 pounds, they have a 2hp motor and you have to lie down to drive them.

We’re a long way away from effective industrial solar power. In the meantime we should explore getting the most out of what we have while doing as little harm as possible.

By MC

July 11, 2008 10:40 AM | Link to this

Sierra Club is exactly right. There are real alternatives out there for Georgia. Instead of investing in WV Coal why don’t we start using clean burning resources right here in GA, like poultry litter and pine trees? Coal is not just bad for the environment , its also a poor economic decision for GA. Get with it people, don’t listen to everything the big coal and oil companies are telling you. Start doing your research. And PS we’ve been getting electricity directly from the sun for about 30 years, its called photovoltaics….

By zeke

July 11, 2008 10:43 AM | Link to this

The sierra club and other radical environmental organizations need to be dibanded in favor of the US Club, one that will promote the economy, the constitution and yes the environment, but, not by radical means costing the taxpayers $ billions!

THE SIERRA CLUB SUCKS!!

By AD

July 11, 2008 11:53 AM | Link to this

Coal is getting more expensive. We don’t even have any in Georgia, so that means all the money I pay on my power bill is going to West Virginia or Wyoming. And my power bill keeps getting bigger because the coal companies will send the coal to China if China pays more. I can’t afford the same. I can’t afford more coal.

By Copyleft

July 11, 2008 11:58 AM | Link to this

Keep up the good work, Zeke. Your every hysterical proclamation helps nudge more and more Americans to the side of sane, rational liberalism.

By theProgressiveBigot

July 11, 2008 12:08 PM | Link to this

I’m with SIERRA! No more coal and oil!!

Poor people are just going to have to get use to not owning cars or having heat/air/TV/lights in their tiny little homes.

By Micah

July 11, 2008 12:24 PM | Link to this

Forget expensive, forget dirty. At CURRENT consumption rates there is approximately 200yrs of coal left in the US; 50 yrs of oil world wide. When we run out of oil and start burning and converting coal it will go even sooner. If we don’t start ‘Right Now’ to convert to cleaner sources of fuel we will be behind the curve and our descendents will find our weathered headstones and pee on our graves.

By Darrel

July 11, 2008 12:38 PM | Link to this

One thing I’ve never heard anyone mention when discussing/cussing oil usage: LUBRICATION! Without some oil, where is the lubrication going to come from to allow the bearings, etc. to survive in all of these wind powered generators? How about the suspension and drive components of any future vehicles? Remember, anything that moves and carries a load needs some form of lubrication: PERIOD! The sun and wind sure as hell won’t provide lubrication! We, unless new, affordable, technology is used, will always need some amount of oil no matter what else is used for major power sources.

By liberalsuck

July 11, 2008 12:39 PM | Link to this

Are you Fu*king kidding me? Coal killing us? Islamic fundamentalists have killed more people than coal has. We have an abundance of coal and should use it immediately. Imagine being able to run most of our power plants off of coal. In turn we would have more electricity and might even have enough power for those stupid electric cars. The Chinese are burning coal like crazy and guess what? No scrubbers on the stacks over there! Solar, wind and hydro aint gonna do it folks. We need to use EVERY possible resource we have and have we plenty. Instead we let nuts like the Sierra club trap us in an artificial energy crisis. Americans need to wake up and shun the environmentalist nuts.

By GAredneck

July 11, 2008 12:51 PM | Link to this

Where is the power really going to be used? Surely not all in Early County.

I don’t know about these radical environmentalist types but just because I live in the country doesn’t mean that you city folk get to pollute my air to provide them with their electricity.

Go build a coal plant in your own backyard.

By Breathing Hard

July 11, 2008 12:57 PM | Link to this

I don’t think that coal is killing me but it makes my life suck during the summer time.

If more coal means more smog days, then I say we get more energy from somewhere else.

And if there’s some way we can do it cheaply, that’d be great.

I need my paycheck to cover my asthma meds, ya’ll.

By katie

July 11, 2008 2:25 PM | Link to this

Having grown up in east Tennessee, the term clean coal is an oxymoron. I think people need to realize the impacts that coal mining has on communities before buying into the media blitz surrounding this idea of clean coal. There’s a good story from the Knoxville weekly—Metro Pulse that will provide some information about the effects that trying to eek out the last bit of coal has on the environment and communities. Also mentione community efforts to help clean up the mines. There are some images of mountain top removal as well. These poor areas are not places that most of us think about or have visited, but I think we all need to educate ourselves on where our raw materials are coming from and what effects our consumption has on not only our environment, but the environment of the communities adjacent to the source.
Link: Mountain Top Revival from Metro Pulse(http://www.metropulse.com/news/2008/feb/29/mountaintop-revival/)

By CJ

July 11, 2008 2:47 PM | Link to this

If any of you have the opportunity, fly in a friend’s Cessna or other small plane over the coal power plant in western Georgia. Once you see the soot that comes out of it, you will quickly realize that coal is NOT our future. That factory adds to the smog effects we see in Atlanta during the summer. I say shut it down!

By eg

July 11, 2008 5:05 PM | Link to this

These coal plants are so outdated and dirty. They don’t even try to use the best technology out there. Basically, coal is a tereible investment and it’s rising in costs. There is no way anyone can argue that it is a limited supply resource, which inevtibely will cause rising prices. Solar and wind, not to even mention efficiency, however, are limitless in supply.