South African blackouts dent Big Coal’s sales pitch“The collapse of a single coal storage silo at a major power station in South Africa last Saturday has revealed the hollowness of global coal industry’s sales pitch that coal plants are ‘very reliable’ and crippled the credibility of the government-owned utility, Eskom,” writes Bob Burton in RenewEconomy. Suggested Tweet: South African blackouts dent Big #Coal’s sales pitch @renew_economy http://bit.ly/1xakua4 #Eskom No DICE: Greg Hunt deceives the public about ‘clean’ coal project“[Australian] Environment Minister Greg Hunt should be investigated for misleading and deceptive conduct. He talks repeatedly about the potential to clean up our coal-fired power stations, reducing their emissions by 30-50%, by installing you-beaut Direct Injection Carbon Engines, when the technology is drastically underfunded, unavailable at scale, and has a colourful history of unsuccessful research sponsored for very many years by one of ICAC’s [Independent Commission Against Corruption] favourite miners, Travers Duncan,” writes Paddy Manning in Crikey. Suggested Tweet: No DICE: Aust Env Minister Greg Hunt deceives the public about ‘clean’ #coal project @gpaddymanning http://bit.ly/1x5xBHM Will the US Environmental Protection Agency coal ash rule survive?“Sometime after midnight [October 28], the White House made it official — its review of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) coal ash rule has begun. The quiet posting of the rule by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sets in motion OMB’s official regulatory review pursuant to a 1993 executive order. That this process officially began under the cover of darkness is an apt metaphor … Rules never come out the way they go in—the offices of OMB are littered with crumpled pages of strong rules gone soft after revision by the White House,”writes Lisa Evans from Earthjustice, a non-profit environmental law group. Suggested Tweet: Hoping @WhiteHouse will NOT cave into #coal industry pressure again and gut #coalash rule http://ejus.tc/1wDRPYZ @Earthjustice |