Largest US private coal company goes bankrupt

[Brainonska511]

If you think about it, the cost of handling gasoline and the infrastructure to provide it is huge. It was a gradual process, much the same as I expect electric to be. It will happen at first in the densely populated areas where it makes sense, and then expand from there outward as it gains popularity and ice vehicles die off, and electric continues to become more viable for everybody. Once the price of gas becomes too much for the outlying areas the needed infrastructure will come to rural areas one way or another.

We can't forget that personal autos aren't the only consideration. Semis, trains, and most construction and earth moving equipment can't easily just go electric, there will be a need for gas and diesel for quite some time yet I agree.

Because a lot of charging can happen at home, you could easily have more electric buildup in areas with single family homes that have private parking. The bigger issue in more dense areas is both a lack of public charging infrastructure and a lack of charging in apartment parking lots that many people may use when renting. That's a big, underserved segment at the moment that we could be doing more for.

Aviation's emission contribution is a really small amount of the overall pie and can probably be offset economically or eventually reduced with new fuels. The growth of flying will have to be addressed at some point but really in the transportation sector the emissions story is overwhelmingly light vehicles and trucks.

We could also easily cut down on some flying if we got rid of a lot of the short haul flights where a train could make more sense, but that would require investing in rail.

 

[K1052]

We could also easily cut down on some flying if we got rid of a lot of the short haul flights where a train could make more sense, but that would require investing in rail.

I agree but the US is basically a basket case when it comes to regional rail investment. The tapestry of different municipalities with their own agendas, balkanized political transport agency governance, and the open extortion conducted by contractors and consultants have made an expensive mess of most attempts.

It doesn't HAVE to be this way as numerous European and Asian countries prove but we've chosen it because we're too indifferent to do better.

 

[Bitek]

If you think about it, the cost of handling gasoline and the infrastructure to provide it is huge. It was a gradual process, much the same as I expect electric to be. It will happen at first in the densely populated areas where it makes sense, and then expand from there outward as it gains popularity and ice vehicles die off, and electric continues to become more viable for everybody. Once the price of gas becomes too much for the outlying areas the needed infrastructure will come to rural areas one way or another.

We can't forget that personal autos aren't the only consideration. Semis, trains, and most construction and earth moving equipment can't easily just go electric, there will be a need for gas and diesel for quite some time yet I agree.

Totally agree. I don't see electrics for trucks, boats and heavy equipment being a very viable alternative until we have very different powerplant technology than we do now. Save our carbon budget for use on these apps and push electrification in the easy to implement areas

 

[VRAMdemon]

The Trump administration -- proudly turning the clock back to 1900.

E.P.A to roll back rules to control toxic ash from coal plants

https://nyti.ms/331lHoE

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is expected to roll back an Obama-era regulation meant to limit the leachingof heavy metals like arsenic, lead and mercury into water supplies from the ash of coal-fired power plants, according to two people familiar with the plans.

With a series of new rules expected in the coming days, the Environmental Protection Agency will move to weaken the 2015 regulation that would have strengthened inspection and monitoring at coal plants, lowered acceptable levels of toxic effluent and required plants to install new technology to protect water supplies from contaminated coal ash.

The E.P.A. will relax some of those requirements and exempt a significant number of power plants from any of the requirements, according to the two people familiar with the Trump administration plan, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the new rules.

 

[dank69]

The Trump administration -- proudly turning the clock back to 1900.

E.P.A to roll back rules to control toxic ash from coal plants

https://nyti.ms/331lHoE

I wonder if this will affect the water supplies or red states or blue states more.

 

[K1052]

The EPA will be sued and the new rule put on hold. The agency has racked up an impressive losing streak becase you just can't change these regulations just to change them to favor industry. The law requires you show scientific proof that loosening standards won't be harmful. Assuming the current office holder is booted out the change will be withdrawn and the suit settled.

When people always talked about how cheap coal power was this is a major thing that was rarely talked about. The cost of remediating coal ash storage that will or is leaking concentrated heavy metals into water supplies is easily into the high tens of billions and of course companies don't want to pay.

 

[thilanliyan]

The Trump administration -- proudly turning the clock back to 1900.

E.P.A to roll back rules to control toxic ash from coal plants

https://nyti.ms/331lHoE

Free market rah rah!!!