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Ecology versus economy is a false choice

Thursday, March 8 at 2:49 PM

This Speakout has not been edited

By Nancy LaPlaca, Denver

Mr. Carroll makes an interesting point: the “false choice” of ecology v. economy. We are waking up to the fact that without clean air and water and a healthy ecosystem the economy will suffer greatly. As Mr. Nicholas Stern points out in his Review on the Economics of Climate Change, ignoring global warming will impose ever-increasing costs if we continue “business as usual.” Instead, we could spend roughly what the world spends in advertising to make real and meaningful change. Or we could stick our heads in the sand and wait for the next Katrina, and keep watching as the arctic ice breaks up and the permafrost melts.

The Aspen Ski Company filed an amicus brief in Massachusettes v. EPA, a case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court. Why? Because the average amount of April 1 snow-water equivalent (moisture in snow-pack) declined 15-30% in the northern Rockies, and more than 50% in the Cascades since 1950. The Colorado ski industry brings in $2 billion/year, if having enough water for crops and drinking isn’t enough to persuade Mr. Carroll.

Similarly, the “consumer v. environmental” advocate is a distinction without a difference.

Before we can buy goods, consumers need air, water and food. Only then can we go shopping. Besides, Demand Side Management (conservation) comes in at 2-3 cents/kWh; wind at 3-8 cents/kWh; pulverized coal at 4-6 cents/kWh; and concentrating solar at 12-14 cents/kWh, with some sites as low as 8 cents/kWh. Recent studies have pegged the health effects from burning coal at $13-33/MWh. Do you know anyone with asthma? Can you “quantify” what clean v. polluted air and water are worth?

And don’t forget about Xcel’s request for $130 million in federal loan guarantees for a so-called “clean” coal plant - the one that will save us all AND keep those coal plants humming. The concentrating solar industry could put in a plant with zero public funds if it had a power purchase agreement — ZERO public funds, not the $130 million sought by Xcel, plus more giveaways.

I am tired of the utility industry’s refusal to face reality. The power industry has had had 30 years to clean up its act. Rather than change, the focus has been on lining the pockets of compliant politicians and spending time preventing changes the industry knew were necessary decades ago. Coal-fired electrical generation creates 40% of all CO2. Getting rid of coal-fired generation is the fastest and easiest way to reduce atmospheric CO2, and improve our health in the process. Let’s hurry up and get started.

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