If you sometimes think there is an orchestrated effort to shut down coal, which currently provides 40% of our electricity, you would be correct. There is even a name for the effort. It’s called the “war on coal.”
5/27 – Politico – Inside the war on coal – The article shows this is a multi-front guerrilla campaign. According to the article, one of the leaders is the Beyond Coal project run by the Sierra Club.
The article, apparently written by an active partisan who is loyal to the campaign, spells out the strategy.
Lobbying and PR campaigns push for more regulation. Increased regulation and blocking locations makes coal more expensive. That undercuts the pricing advantage. As a result of that and a variety of other factors, plants are not being refitted. Instead they are being shut down.
A separate effort, Beyond Gas, is focused on ending our use of natural gas.
The effort to shut down coal is making progress. The article says that a few years ago there were 523 coal plants across the U.S. Today 190 of them are either closed or scheduled to close. Those plants have 79 gigawatts of baseline power.
First coal, then gas, then oil.
In case you were still wondering if there is an active, intentional effort to put you and your family in the cold and dark while making you poorer in the process, consider a quote from the article:
There will be no formal surrender in the war on coal, no battleship treaty to mark the end. But Beyond Coal’s leaders believe they can finish most of their work setting the U.S. electric sector on a greener path over the next five years. The next phase of the war on carbon would be to try to electrify everything else—cars and trains that use oil-derived gasoline and diesel, as well as homes and businesses that rely on natural gas and heating oil. … And allies {energy companies} will be vital, because if King Coal seems like a rich and powerful enemy, it’s a pushover compared to Big Oil.
“Once we’ve taken out coal, we’ll need to take on oil, and who better to help than our new friends in the utility sector who can make money from electrification?” …