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Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign

Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign. Presentation to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council July 15, 2009 Dan Ritzman, Western Regional Director. Presentations. Conservation panel Dan Ritzman , Sierra Club Lisa Adatto , Climate Solutions

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Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign

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  1. Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign Presentation to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council July 15, 2009 Dan Ritzman, Western Regional Director

  2. Presentations • Conservation panel • Dan Ritzman, Sierra Club • Lisa Adatto, Climate Solutions • Catherine Thomasson, Physicians forSocial Responsibility • Guest presenter • Mark Buckley, Senior Economist, ECO Northwest

  3. Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign • No new coal plants • End destructive mining practices • Put existing coal plants on retirement path

  4. Coal Free Northwest • Retire in-region coal plants • Replace imported coal electricity

  5. Sierra Club and Citizen Engagement Thousands rallyfor Clean Air, No Coal at EPA Endangerment Finding Hearing Seattle: May 2009

  6. Citizens Across Northwest Speak Out • Billings, MT, conference on phasing out coal; ushering in clean energy and clean energy jobs

  7. Clean energy goals for 6th Power Plan • Sierra Club supports: • Vision statement: “reduced use of coal will be required… to meet carbon emission reduction goals.” • Full accounting for carbon • 1,400 aMW of efficiency for the 5-year plan • Strong efficiency and renewables for the 20-year plan

  8. 1. Keep coal in the vision statement “to reduce or even stabilize CO2 production beyond 2005 will likely require replacing existing coal-fired power plants with low CO2-emitting resources.” -- NW Power Planning and Conservation Council NWPPC “Global warming in the NW” http://www.nwcouncil.org/library/2007/2007-15.pdf

  9. 2. Support full accounting for carbon • We can no longer afford to ignore the real costs of climate damage. The cost should include cost of adaptation and repair, not just emission reductions • We strongly support a cost for Carbon in the 6th plan. Current cost of $47 per ton by 2030 is too low and should be strengthened.

  10. 3. Five-year plan: maximize efficiency • Set 1,400 aMW target now to maximize energy efficiency for the 20-year plan • Fastest, most reliable, least expensive energy source, creates the most jobs • 280 aMW per year, starting lower and ramping up • In 2008, region achieve 235 aMW – overreaching the regional goals.

  11. 4. 20-year plan: strong efficiency, renewable goals • Set 5,800 aMW efficiency (build off 1,400 goal for short-term) • Maintain and strengthen RPS • Assume RPS achieved in states • Lead the region, states and utilities in ramping up renewable investments • Signal to strengthen, not weaken, RPS in states

  12. Scientists call for more aggressive action – NW in danger of falling behind • “Climate Change odds much worse than thought.” • MIT News Office, May 19, 2009 • “At least 35% below 1990 levels by 2020.” • Schneider, Oppenheimer, Lovejoy et alletter to Congress, March 2009 • IPCC calls for 25-40% below 1990 levels by 2020 • Regional governments only 15-20% below current levels: we need to do more

  13. Science Opposes Coal “Atmospheric CO2 can be successfully constrained only if coal use is phased out…” - Dr. James Hansen NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies

  14. Coal Hazards Beyond CO2 • Mining • Water quality • Waste materials: fly ash (Colstrip contamination), slurry • Air emissions: soot, haze, nitrous oxide, sulfur dioxide, mercury+ dozens of other hazardous air toxins

  15. “As proposed, the TransAlta plant would cause the greatest visibility impact to our national parks and wilderness areas of any coal fired power plant across the United States.” National Parks Service, Seattle Times, April 7, 2009 It’s America’s only national scenic area. But the Columbia River Gorge has some of the worst air pollution of any rural area in the West…One major source of gorge haze is Portland General Electric’s coal-fired plant east of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area in Boardman, Ore. The Columbian September 26, 2007

  16. A single gram of mercury…

  17. …has the ability to contaminate 20 acres of lake over time… …Centralia alone has the ability to contaminate 9 million acres of lake annually. Courtesy of NPS

  18. Good News – The Solution • Green/Clean Energy Economy could bring more than 60,000 jobs to the region in the next decade.

  19. 6th Power Plan: a new mandate • Historically, the power plans are focused on meeting new load growth • Now the Council must aggressively pursue replacing existing fossil resources, especially coal, with efficiency and renewables • Never has the urgency for action been so clear • Never has the work of the Power Council been so important

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