Living on Earth: Kicking Coal

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http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=09-P13-00008&segmentID=2

Kicking Coal

Air Date: Week of February 20, 2009

Plans for some 150 new coal-fired power plants have bitten the dust as uncertainty grows about how to handle coal's emissions. Now the Obama administration adds to coal's woes with steps to regulate mercury, fly ash and greenhouse gases from coal plants. Living on Earth's Jeff Young reports.

GELLERMAN: Well despite the 3.4 billion dollar stimulus the coal industry is getting for carbon sequestration, king coal has been getting its lumps lately. As Living on Earth's Jeff Young reports, right now, the future of coal looks black.

YOUNG: Just five years ago it was a coal rush—with some 150 coal fired power plants on the drawing board. Now, more than half are history and even more fell by the wayside in just the past few weeks. In Wisconsin, Governor Jim Doyle announced plans to power the University of Wisconsin with biomass instead of coal.

DOYLE: You know a coal plant in the middle of Madison that was there many years ago? It's probably time to move on and not have coal.

YOUNG: In Michigan, Governor Jennifer Granholm directed state agencies to put priority on efficiency and renewable energy instead of coal.

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