Coal King No Longer: Is Natural Gas the Long Term Solution?

This has not a good year for coal in the United States. Fifty-five coal-burning power plants haveshut down this year alone  including the Big Sandy power plant in Louisa, Kentucky

The significance of the Big Sandy plant is that it is located right in the heart of coal country; near the Appalachian Mountains, an area that has relied on coal, not only for energy, but as an economic driver for decades.

EPA regulations have forced coal companies to decide whether to pay for expensive retrofitting to their existing coal-burning electric power plants or to shut the burners down permanently. The American Electric Power company has decided to shut down both coal furnaces of Big Sandy, keeping open the possibility of retrofitting one at a later date to burn natural gas.

For most environmentally-concerned individuals this would seem like a major win. Burning coal not only emits a great deal of carbon dioxide but also other harmful pollutants like particulate matter and sulfur dioxide. Plus mining coal often involves significant environmental and human costs.

The fact that a coal plant would shut down in an area where coal is plentiful is an example of how social changes, concerns about global warming and EPA regulations are changing the energy industry. But this begs the question: what happens next?

Relying less on coal for energy means that burden going to be placed on other sources of energy. At the present one of the main sources of electrical energy is natural gas; while not renewable or devoid of emissions, it is a much cleaner option than coal. But there are ramifications to this shift to natural gas, making the environmental costs of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) an even greater concern.

If natural gas becomes relied on for more electrical energy production, natural gas companies have to find a safer way of removing it from the earth for it to be a sustainable source of energy.

The options other than natural gas to coal are clean, renewable sources of energy like wind. A decline in coal use presents a good opportunity for renewable energy, but companies still need financial and government support for these clean, renewable sources. And a much better electrical distribution system infrastructure, particularly to move electricity generated from wind and solar to customers.

Although increased use of natural gas over coal may be an encouraging trend and a step towards reducing our carbon emissions in the short term, it is pertinent to keep in mind one of the significant costs of increased use of natural gas - increased fracking - and the effects fracking will have on the environment.

Assisted by Michael Ciccarone

Battle over national debt ceiling has negotiation experts shaking their heads

The May 11, 2011 issue of the Washington Post had an interesting article by David A. Fahrenthold that looks at the political negotiations over extending the national debt ceiling.

Published in the Post Style Section, the article says a lot about our culture’s adoption of the ideas in Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher and William Ury.

The article reviews the negotiating styles of politicians and concludes that they are, in a word, amateurs, to wit:

That’s the frustrated conclusion that America’s professional negotiators have reached, after watching Washington’s politicians begin their own negotiation over the national debt ceiling. These professionals are ex-FBI agents, labor mediators, divorce counselors. They have learned the rules that help resolve unsolvable standoffs: Don’t lie to a man on a high ledge. Don’t box yourself in with sweeping threats. Don’t tell your adversary to “act like an adult.”

And it bugs them to see their art practiced this way.

I believe that many of us, observing the posturing and lack of negotiations skills we see between political leaders every day, agree with the main thrust of the article -- that both sides “have no idea what they’re doing.”

This bothers me. My guess is that one of the reasons both parties are held in such low regard is that most of us understand that effective negotiations require a level of professionalism that the politicians don’t often meet. Political leaders have a lot to learn about negotiations strategy. Too bad they don’t seem to be paying attention.

Bill Ury was quoted in the article as saying, “The country deserves better negotiations.”

How true.