Give up on ‘horse-and-buggy’ coal-fired technology
Montana is faced with a simple choice. Should we go back to the horse and buggy, or go forward to new electric generation technology of the 21st century?
Scientist have been saying for years that carbon dioxide (CO2) is the primary greenhouse gas emitted through human activities. In 2013, CO2 accounted for about 82 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from human activities.
The current warming trend is of particular significance because most of it is very likely human-induced and proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented in the past 1,300 years. The evidence for rapid climate change is compelling: Sea level rise, global temperature rise, warming oceans, shrinking ice sheets, declining Arctic sea ice, glacial retreat, extreme events, ocean acidification, and decreased snow cover.
The Los Angeles Times broke the story Oct. 18: Duane LeVine, Exxon Mobil’s manager of science and strategy development, gave a primer to the company’s board of directors in 1989, noting that scientists generally agreed gases released by burning fossil fuels could raise global temperatures significantly by the middle of the 21st century — between 2.7 and 8.1 degrees Fahrenheit — causing glaciers to melt and sea levels to rise, “with generally negative consequences.” The company has shifted from embracing the science of climate change to publicly questioning it. So LeVine laid out a plan for the “Exxon Position”: In order to stop the momentum behind the issue, LeVine said Exxon should emphasize that doubt. From 1998 to 2005, Exxon contributed almost $16 million to at least 43 organizations to wage a campaign raising questions about climate change. Tell the public that more science is needed before regulatory action is taken, he argued, and emphasize the “costs and economics” of restricting carbon dioxide emissions.
Montana Attorney General Tim Fox, as reported in the Great Falls Tribune Oct. 24, has joined other states in a lawsuit challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s “carbon rule.” According to Fox, the rule would reduce carbon emissions from coal electric generation plants.
Montana exports 50 percent of the energy produced in the state; half of our energy comes from hydroelectric and wind power. Why are Montana taxpayers paying to protect Washington, Oregon and California energy consumption? Washington Gov. Jay Inslee stated no more “coal by wire.” With an abundant supply of hydroelectric power, Washington state currently gets less than 14 percent of its electricity from coal.
Gov. Inslee wants to take power generated by coal down to zero over time, wean his state off coal-generated electric power. This move would eliminate electric power from Montana’s Colstrip power plant owned by Puget Sound Energy, Pacific Power, Kalen Energy and Avista Corporation (NorthWestern Energy owns 222 megawatts of the 2,094 peak output megawatts).
One wonders if Fox, at the turn of the last century, would have litigated with other states for the horse and buggy industry with all its local suppliers of hay, grain and horses. Why waste Montana tax dollars on past technology?
The Absaroka Energy Gordon Butte pumping and storage station is developing the latest pump/turbine, electrical generating technology, currently employed in Europe, which could connect to the Colstrip twin 500-kilovolt transmission lines built by the Bonneville Power Administration that run from Townsend to West Coast utilities.
Why waste Montana tax dollars trying to artificially prop up technologies of the past?
Karen Van Hyning of Great Falls is a lifelong Montana resident and retired medical transcriptionist who is concerned about climate change.