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Middleboro Review 2

NEW CONTENT MOVED TO MIDDLEBORO REVIEW 2

Toyota

Since the Dilly, Dally, Delay & Stall Law Firms are adding their billable hours, the Toyota U.S.A. and Route 44 Toyota posts have been separated here:

Route 44 Toyota Sold Me A Lemon



Thursday, April 30, 2009

"The Oxymoron" by Dirty Coal

Dirty Coal's poster child is Harriman, Tennessee, site of the December 22, 2008 massive environmental degradation of the TVA Coal Ash Spill, the first of three recent coal spills.
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30 Times The Size of Exxon Valdez
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30 Times The Size of Exxon Valdez #2
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30 Times The Size of Exxon Valdez #3
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Dirty Coal is working overtime through its new mouthpiece, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, to convince Congressmen of its false "cleanliness," disregarding the visible environmental mess created by Coal Ash and Mountaintop Removal.

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Instead of fostering Energy Efficiency and Alternative Energy options such as Cape Wind, which would eliminate the need for additional Dirty Coal burning power plants and allow a phase out of the dirtiest ones, Congress is funding research that might produce results decades in the future.



Off Shore Drilling: Are Americans Being Snookered? :
Wind is already more competitive than electricity generated from new nuclear and coal-fired power plants.
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More Wind Mills or Hot Air?

Coal generates 54% of our electricity, and is the single biggest air polluter in the U.S.
Coal is Dirty!

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The Center for Public Integrity issued a new report that's worth reading. Below are several excerpts [emphasis mine]:

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The ‘Clean Coal’ Lobbying Blitz
As hearings began on landmark climate change legislation, the Center for Public Integrity delved into the story of an unprecedented corporate campaign over the past year to preserve coal’s role in the nation’s energy future. The report looks at how the mining, rail and utility companies put together their drive, bolstered by at least $15.6 million in federal campaign contributions in the 2008 election cycle.
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The burning of coal for electricity is a leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions and the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) has promoted the message that technology can solve what is really an intractable pollution problem. At $45 million a year, the campaign is three times larger than the industry’s previous lobbying and public relations efforts. But it’s just a small slice of the money the industry has amassed, due to record profits, and this Center report provides a new picture of the coal coalition’s political influence.

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...the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a collection of 48 mining, rail, manufacturing, and power-generating companies with an annual budget of more than $45 million — almost three times larger than the coal industry’s old lobbying and public relations groups combined. ACCCE (pronounced “Ace”) is just celebrating its first birthday, but it has already become a juggernaut shaping the terms of the climate change debate on Capitol Hill — even while weathering a high-profile assault by critics who accuse it of peddling hot air.
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ACCCE’s considerable impact will be on display this week at House Energy and Commerce Committee hearings on a new draft climate bill penned by panel chairman Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, and Energy and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat. Just a year ago, Waxman and Markey backed a moratorium on new coal-fired electricity plants. But their latest draft would allow new coal plants through 2015, if they are retrofitted to cut carbon dioxide output some 40 to 60 percent within another decade. The technology to do that does not yet exist, but not to worry: the new measure would set up a $1 billion-a-year clean coal research fund to help.
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When voters don't shout louder than lobbyists for Dirty Energy, they win!

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