A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.
At 1510 MDT, the Montana AFL-CIO emailed a short statement by Al Ekblad, its executive secretary, expressing concern over President Obama’s Clean Power Plan that would reduce power plan emissions 32 percent by 2030. Said Ekblad:
We’re very concerned about today’s announcement. The number appears to be much higher than what was in the proposed rule that came out last year.
We are worried about what this means for the hundreds of working families whose livelihoods depend on the coal industry, the communities that depend on those jobs, Montana’s tax base and the ratepayer’s that could be impacted by these changes.
We’ve spent the better part of a year talking to our members and we thought the initial plan would be workable. However, the number announced today was unexpected and seems unreasonable. President Obama literally changed the rules on us.
We will continue to work with Governor Bullock’s administration to ensure the creation of a Montana plan that ensures Colstrip stays open. A State Implementation Plan is essential to making this happen. If we ignore this rule, we give all control to the Federal Government. That would obviously be a huge mistake.
Ekblad needs to provide facts to support his conclusion. Presumably the MT AFL-CIO will produce a white paper explaining why the President is wrong.
Mother Jones blogger Kevin Drum thinks the Clean Power Plan is modest, perhaps too modest, but notes that even so, making the final 15 percent reduction won't be easy.
Even if coal’s combustion produced nothing but water vapor and carbon dioxide — well, it still would be a problem because CO2 is a greenhouse gas. But there’s no such thing as clean coal. It’s inherently dirty, with sulfur, mercury, and other unpleasant things mixed in with the carbon. Nothing can change that. Mining coal fouls the ground. Burning it fouls the air and heats the planet. We need to dig and burn less of it; and eventually, none of it.
Unions would be wise to plan for the transition from coal to other sources of energy, to put more of their resources into helping their members find new jobs, and less into fighting the inevitable.