Here is a shocker, Dominion Power, the energy mogul that is pressing hard to build a new coal fired power plant in Wise, Virginia, is not properly accounting for the financial risks associated with, as a business, refusing to evolve and properly assess reality. Could it be true that a major polluter is acting unscrupulously, profiting off of misleading investors and ignoring the real world? According to the New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, maybe. According to the Attorney General, “The increase in [carbon-dioxide] emissions from the operation of this unit [the proposed Wise Co. Plant], in combination with Dominion’s other coal-fired power plants, will subject Dominion to increased financial, regulatory and litigation risks.”
Basically, I read Cuomo’s statement to mean, “hey Dominion, building another coal power plant are you kidding me? You know that legislation to regulate global warming emissions is coming soon, why are you going to build another super polluter? You know you can’t realistically sequester carbon from the plant, don’t even kid yourself. Why don’t you just do something less radical, like start building wind turbines or solar panels or investing in efficiency. Now that would be a plan we could all get behind.”
To help further illustrate my point, I will throw out some fun analogies. Coal is to power production as Asbestos is to insulation — it works, but you don’t want to use it. New coal power is as good an idea as reviving phrenology evaluation to help supplement student applications to college. Okay, that second one wasn’t as good as the first, but you get the point. Let me know if you have any good analogies about coal you want to pass on, I love analogies.
Oh, I try to never get totally negative with my blog posts, so here is the positive. Dominion is helping to offer CFL light bulbs at a discounted rate. That is one small step for man…