There is no such thing as clean coal! Period!
In my first year as a Keyboard Culture Expert, I have mentioned my position on clean coal but never as affirmatively as right now. Why the change? Well, it’s not really a change so much as a tweak in my narrative style. It is precipitated by two events of historical significance.
Firstly, we have the nomination for President of the United States of Senator Barack Obama. No matter whether you follow politics passionately with an inclination toward one political party or away from another, or are lukewarm about all of it, you are or will become aware of the fact that Senator Obama’s nomination by the Democratic Party has caused a marked uptick in budget allocations for television advertising by fossil fuel companies, including mining interests.
In a word, fossilized conglomerates which have been embraced by many national politicians in recent years have become frightened. Whereas earlier in this decade they have spoken occasionally about clean coal technologies, now they can’t seem to refer to them often enough.
Since this is not a political blog, I will leave the matter there with a simple statement of fact. These companies are frightened.
Secondly, though, is the preceding event to Senator Obama’s nomination, the partnership between Environmental Defense, a standard bearer in the quest for a clean environment and a reversal of global warming, and one of the world’s largest investment firms, Kohlbert Kravis Roberts.
In 2007, Kohlbert Kravis Roberts was poised to help finance a rash of new electrical generating stations throughout the United States, many of them with coal furnaces. Among the deals was what would have been the largest acquisition of an energy utility, TXU in this case, in American history. The good people of Environmental Defense leapt into action and called upon their membership base to protest the proposal.
The result was every bit as historic as the merger: Environmental Defense engaged the financiers at Kohlbert Kravis Roberts in a new alliance which helps channel large chunks of investment away from the carbon-intensive practices of the past toward a cleaner, greener future. In just a year’s time, this alliance has begun to bear additional fruit, particularly a broader corporate awakening about the need for responsible, environmentally sustainable practices. In fact, dozens of coal-fired power plant construction plans have been canceled or delayed because of the historic achievement of Environmental Defense.
While cultural changes in the United States and many other nations continue to awaken from a long hibernation, much progress remains to be achieved. Next time, I will share with you a new initiative from NRDC, a peer organization to Environmental Defense of equal esteem.
Fomenting the Triple Bottom Line
Corbett Kroehler
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