Obama Didn't Kill Coal, the Market Did

[bananas]

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-08-04/obama-didn-t-kill-coal-the-market-did

Obama Didn't Kill Coal, the Market Did
505 Aug 4, 2015 10:15 AM EDT
By Michael R. Bloomberg

Critics of the Environmental Protection Agency’s new Clean Power Plan are describing it in apocalyptic terms. But much of what they believe about the plan -- that it will destroy the coal industry, kill jobs and raise costs for consumers -- is wrong. And it’s important to understand why.

The overblown political rhetoric about the plan tends to obscure the market reality that the coal industry has been in steady decline for a decade, partly as a result of the natural gas boom, but mostly because consumers are demanding cleaner air and action on climate change. Communities across the U.S. have led the way in persuading utilities to close dirty old coal plants and transition to cleaner forms of energy. The Sierra Club’s grass-roots Beyond Coal campaign (which Bloomberg Philanthropies funds) has helped close or phase out more than 200 coal plants over the past five years.

The primary reason for the public revolt against coal is simple: It causes death, disease and debilitating respiratory problems. A decade ago, coal pollution was killing 13,000 people a year. Today, the number is down to 7,500, which means that more than 5,000 Americans are living longer, healthier lives each year thanks to cleaner power.

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The EPA’s Clean Power Plan merely continues this trend. Consider this: More than 50 percent of U.S. electric power came from coal in 2005. Today, it is down below 40 percent. The EPA’s new rules project a decline to 27 percent by 2030. In other words, we are already halfway to the EPA’s goal -- seven years before its rules take full effect, and before many of the coal plant closings that are scheduled to happen over the next decade, thanks to the Sierra Club and others. And if the latest phase of the Sierra Club’s campaign succeeds, coal power will fall far below 27 percent well before 2030 -- even if the EPA rules are rescinded by the next president or struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.

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[bananas]

1. Mother Jones did an excellent article in 2012

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2012/04/beyond-coal-plant-activism

How a Grassroots Rebellion Won the Nation's Biggest Climate Victory

Activists have imposed a de facto moratorium on new coal—and beat the Obama EPA to the punch.

—By Mark Hertsgaard | Mon Apr. 2, 2012

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By the time Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) declared the cap-and-trade bill dead in July 2010, the Beyond Coal campaign had helped prevent construction of 132 coal plants and was on the verge of defeating dozens more. It had imposed, noted Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute, "a de facto moratorium on new coal-fired power plants."

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So why does this landmark shift in the fight against climate change remain unknown to most Americans? Largely it's because national media and even many environmentalists view the climate issue through the lens of official Washington. When cap-and-trade legislation failed, the conventional wisdom became that the US was simply incapable of taking meaningful action; corporate polluters were too strong, the political system too dominated by industry money, the public too confused and apathetic.

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