Our loyalties are to the species and to the planet. We speak for earth. Our obligation to survive and flourish is owed not just to ourselves but also to that cosmos ancient and vast from which we spring! – Carl Sagan, 1980
Carl Sagan, a renowned astronomer and cosmologist, saw Earth as a beautiful planet full of life. Sagan was alarmed at the many threats back in 1980. He said, “our global civilization is clearly on the edge of failure and the most important task it faces is preserving the lives and well-being of its citizens and the future habitability of the planet.”
Robert Murray, CEO of the largest US coal mining company, prepared a plan for candidate Trump to get coal miners back to work. Murray asked Trump to withdraw from the UN Paris Agreement, kill the Clean Power Plan, shrink EPA by at least 50 percent, stop carbon emissions regulations, and eliminate tax credits for solar and wind power. Money talks. With major fundraising in West Virginia, and $300,000 for Trump’s inauguration, life on Earth is closer to a tipping point. Betrayed for 30 silver coins.
Stop the Affordable Clean Energy Rule (ACE)
The proposed ACE rule would replace the Clean Power Plan. ACE would provide more than 300 U.S. coal-fired power plant incentives to keep coal in use. It would also delay offshore wind and solar power systems. Please email comments by Monday, October 5, 2018, Docket ID EPA-HQ-OAR-2017-0355. Please Google details.
Murray hates wind power
To sell coal, Murray Energy bankrolled the opposition to Icebreaker Wind, an offshore wind generation project on Lake Erie. Icebreaker would be North America’s first freshwater wind power station, a breakthrough for Cleveland, Ohio. Several other offshore wind power projects are in the works, a much-needed transition to large scale clean energy.
Murray is not the only one pulling the strings or giving advice. With the exception of Stormy Daniels, Trump hand picked the worst people, without experience or qualifications.
Fossil fuels – stranded assets
Fueling U.S. Forward, funded by the Koch group, uses misinformation trying to kill all electric vehicles. Fleets of electric buses and trucks are their main concern. Please see their YouTube video and count the lies. The Koch campaign against public transportation, and new EPA regulations to lower fuel economy standards, are designed to increase fossil fuel sales.
Cracking Arkansas
Last week the Arkansas Teachers Retirement System (ATRS) approved a $30 million investment on a $3.7 billion shale gas to diesel refinery.
Shale gas, aka natural gas, is extracted by fracking shale plays. “Natural” does not mean NG is a green fuel. NG is methane-gas, 34 times stronger as a heat-trapping gas than CO2 over a 100-year time frame. NG is found ready to be burned unlike shale crude oil, which must be refined to be used as fuel.
The ATRS refinery would use NG to produce diesel fuel. The project to convert gas to liquid fuel (GTL) was proposed in 2015 by Security Energy Partners. They traveled the world looking for investors. Three years later, ATRS signed the deal. If built, the refinery would be near Pine Bluff.
The carbon footprint of a GTL refinery is massive. From shale fracking to gas pipelines, to NG cracking at the refinery, to semi-trucks to transport diesel fuel, to increased emissions of diesel trucks for decades.
This project is doomed. ATRS is investing less than one percent of the estimated cost of the 5-year construction project. Long-term agreements to supply shale-gas are hard to find. Last month, a $1 billion Fayetteville shale holding sold for $300 million at auction.
GTL refineries are high-risk massive projects. ATRS should check with Louisiana before investing another dime. In 2012, Sasol announced plans for a $15 billion GTL refinery, canceled three years later. In 2013, Shell announced a $12.5 billion GTL plant, canceled 10-weeks later. Louisiana was left holding the bag.
ATRS has many opportunities to invest its $15-billion fund. Why be the first to invest in high-carbon, high-risk projects? Arkansas teachers are counting on their funds to retire, they deserve better.
Dr. Luis Contreras
Correction: Energy Security Partners (ESP) is the name of the people promoting Diesel from Natural Gas.
ESP business model is low-risk (for ESP): use other people’s money – OPM
The $3.7 Billion funds are for the first phase of the project. Details are sketchy, but it seems there are two other phases making the total cost around $12 Billion and the construction time over 10 years.
I don’t have details for the total project. If you are curious please contact Mr. Roger Williams, http://www.espgtl.com
Thank you.
The new Tesla Semi, an all-electric super truck, came to Arkansas last week to JB Hunt using the existing network of Tesla chargers.
Tesla is 100X better than the best Diesel semi, it is much more than zero-emissions, this is the EV of the future, available today.
https://electrek.co/2018/08/31/tesla-semi-colorado-engineers-range-cameras-electric-truck-superchargers/
Murray sent Trump an Action Plan to get coal miners back to work
Murray used to talk about the War on Coal – an imaginary struggle driven by low natural gas prices, not a secret demonic plan by the Wind and Solar power companies
Please read the memo Murray sent Pence.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/a-coal-executives-action-plan-for-trump-is-made-public/
Some readers have asked for additional information on Murray Energy.
This is a reliable source: John Oliver on Clean coal – make sure to watch the ending
In 2016 the Jefferson County Economic Development Corp. (JCEDC) invested $4 Million of tax payer’s money for the 1,086 acres site near Pine Bluff.
AEDC has not disclosed the dollar amount of subsidies for this mega project.
Energy Security Partners (ESP) is using other people’s money for this high-risk venture.
JCEDC and ATRS will now wait to see if anyone else chooses to invest.
Unless this refinery and all related infrastructure are completed in about 5 years, these two investors can kiss their money goodbye, and Pine Bluff will end up with a new tourist attraction.
The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is fighting to protect the Clean Power Plan.
Here is what EDF says:
The Clean Power Plan would reduce carbon emissions from power plant smokestacks — and by doing so it would also create new opportunities to continue development of the strong, vibrant clean energy economy that is creating prosperity. The states that join the race first, and run it the fastest, will win both more investment in clean technologies and less air pollution for their communities. And we will all benefit from less severe temperature increases, less dangerous sea level rise, and fewer ferocious storms.
But the Trump Administration is now trying to stop the Clean Power Plan. On October 10, 2017, former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt signed a proposal to repeal the plan. And lawsuits about the Clean Power Plan continue in our courts.
EDF will keep fighting to protect the Clean Power Plan.
https://www.edf.org/clean-power-plan-resources
Here is the EPA information to comment on the proposed Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) removing environmental protections of the Clean Power Plant (CPP)
ACE is not about affordable clean energy. ACE is about burning coal to produce electricity, ignoring the deadly CO2 emissions. Coal power is highly subsidized, it is not affordable nor clean. Coal power is one of the main drivers of the climate emergency.
The CPP aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from electrical power generation by 32 percent by 2030, relative to 2005 levels. The plan is focused on reducing emissions from coal-burning power plants, as well as increasing the use of renewable energy, and energy conservation. The proposed ACE rule is a major threat to life.
Please send your comments opposing ACE today. Thank you
https://www.epa.gov/stationary-sources-air-pollution/affordable-clean-energy-rule-proposal-how-comment