Word: coal
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Over the next 25 years, the Department of Energy predicts the use of coal will provide an increasing portion of our power--up to nearly 60%, from 52%. Convened by the Secretary of Energy, the National Coal Council (McCall is a member) has laid out an aggressive energy plan using coal over the next two decades. Coal production is expected to soar from 1.1 billion tons a year to 1.8 billion--mostly from the West, especially Wyoming's Powder River Basin. New transmission lines, like the $6 billion Frontier Line, will carry electricity from the coalfields of Wyoming to consumers...
Mike McCall knew at age 14 he wanted to work in the mines. Chalk it up to a fascination with those "big Tonka toys" used to haul away coal, he says. He wasn't afraid to be underground, either. One of his first engineering jobs was in Peabody's famous Mine No. 10, a massive seam running beneath Illinois. Today, old enough to have a teenage son of his own, he still mines coal, but for a different boss. He is spearheading the largest expansion of coal-fired electric plants in Texas history for energy giant TXU. "With 6 million...
...after all, the Saudi Arabia of coal. We have more than 200 years of coal reserves at our current burn rate. There are 440 coal-fired plants across the nation, with proposals to build 153 more in 42 states over the next decade, at a cost of $137 billion, to provide electricity to 93 million homes and support our energy-guzzling lifestyles...
...King Coal's new popularity, however, is like a runaway mine train heading for a collision with states and cities struggling to meet pollution standards. Environmental controls on electric plants have cut emissions of six principal air pollutants by half since 1970, despite a 42% increase in energy consumption. But even with mandated controls, old-fashioned pulverized- coal plants still spew nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide (think acid rain) as well as toxic mercury. Carbon dioxide emissions, blamed for global warming, would soar. Shareholder activists are increasingly aggressive about demanding an accounting when companies like TXU, which had 2005 earnings...
...McCall, as TXU's head of wholesale operations, says he needs a low-cost, reliable supply of electricity fast. Plans for nuclear facilities will take nearly a decade to develop. Coal is quicker. Using the company's new "lean academy" philosophy (based on Toyota's manufacturing system), TXU can build all 11 coal-fired plants, cookie-cutter style, with the first online in 2009. Coal gasification simply isn't in TXU's plans, primarily because of problems with the high moisture content of the cheaper Texas and Wyoming coal it buys. Waiting until the next decade, when new technologies...