Tagged: Energy

Three Kentucky coal-fired power plants are named among the biggest polluters in the nation in a new report.

The Environmental Integrity Project analyzed the fifty-one U.S. power plants that emit the highest levels of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, which have been linked to premature deaths from heart and lung disease.

A common misconception about coal in America is that it accounts for most of the nation’s electricity generation.

Coal’s importance to the nation’s energy mix is indisputable. But that influence is on the decline, and is dropping fast. Even so, the new data has yet to be embraced by politicians intent on reinforcing Kentucky’s coal industry.

Here’s Western Kentucky state Representative Brent Yonts at a recent public hearing in Frankfort.

A federal judge has given the Environmental Protection Agency one week to set standards for fine particle pollution across the United States. These are the fine particles that come out of factories, power plants and automobiles.

Paul Cort is an attorney for nonprofit Earthjustice. He argued the case.

“This rule defines what it means to have clean air that’s safe to breathe,” Cort said. “And so by setting these standards, if an area has air that doesn’t meet these standards, then they have to develop a plan to reduce emissions that contribute to the pollution problem.”

Kentucky’s state parks system is two months into a major energy savings project at nine of its parks. The project is part of Governor Steve Beshear’s Initiative for Smart Government, which is designed to reduce government waste.

Coal-producing states like Kentucky are warily eying federal regulations that have begun moving the country away from fossil fuels.

Even so, Sue Tierney says she thinks coal will be around for awhile, though it will be cleaner and make up less of the nation’s energy mix. Tierney was the Assistant Secretary for Policy in the U.S. Department of Energy under President Bill Clinton. She’s giving a talk on what she calls “sustainable energy” in both the U.S. and China next week.