NEWS

Few people are more familiar than Arizonans with our nation’s cheapest, cleanest and most abundant fuel source - the sun.

 

But apparently not the coal industry front group American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, whose Guest Opinion column tries to convince Arizonans that the coal industry is working hard to make coal "clean" ("The gift of coal for Christmas," Dec. 17).

 

The op-ed went so far as to suggest that Arizona residents, "put coal in the stocking of your favorite people."  The coal industry and its front group are, in a word, wrong.

Here are the facts. Not only is burning coal the dirtiest way we produce electricity, but renewable energy sources have been adding clean, reliable power to the grid for more than a decade.

 

Arizona deserves a better energy future than one based on dirty coal and so-called "clean coal" marketing campaigns.

 

In reality, there are no homes in Arizona - or anywhere else in America, for that matter - powered by "clean" coal. There are roughly 600 coal plants producing electricity in the U.S. - six in Arizona.

Not one of them captures and stores its global warming pollution. In fact, carbon dioxide, or CO2, emissions from U.S. coal-based electricity are greater than emissions from all the cars and trucks in America.

Meanwhile, for all their advertising of "clean" coal technology, the coal industry has invested little in carbon capture and storage technology - the only way coal could be considered "clean."

They have apparently found that it is much cheaper to invest in marketing and lobbying to protect the status quo than in the technology that would actually make coal plants clean.

If coal is going to be a part of our nation’s clean energy future, the industry needs to invest more heavily in CCS research and demonstration projects immediately. It needs to step up to the plate with a real commitment to support climate solutions - not just clever marketing campaigns and empty promises.

Fortunately, today there’s a solution for Arizona and for the nation.

If we invest in a plan to repower America with 100 percent clean electricity within 10 years, we can boost our economy with millions of new jobs and save our planet at the same time.

Research indicates that an investment in solar power produces almost four times as many jobs as the same investment in coal power. And an investment in wind power produces almost three times as many jobs and energy efficiency - almost 30 times as many jobs as coal power.

Some of the best solar resources in the nation fall right on Arizona. In fact, research shows that Arizona’s sunshine can provide 50 times more electricity than the entire state uses today.

For the better part of the last year, a renewable energy firm has been working with Arizona Public Service to build the world’s largest solar power plant near Gila Bend. The 280-megawatt plant is slated to power more than 70,000 homes and create more than 2,000 Arizona jobs.

This sort of investment will boost Arizona’s economy and help pave the way toward a clean energy future for our nation. And that is a much better gift than a dirty lump of coal.