No surprising that Luke Popovich, the coal industry’s chief spokesman, anticipating a boom for his employers with the Trump presidency, is touting the wonders of clean coal in his Nov 23 Op-Ed. A few of his points are true: Trump has promised to remove climate sanctions on coal and coal is cleaner than it once was. However, Mr. Trump has recently back-peddled his position on climate. And, even though the coal industry has been dragged into reducing cancer-causing emissions, it is still dirty in every aspect – the treatment of its workers, the contaminated slag leeching into groundwater, the destructive methods of mining, the wind-born carcinogenic ash., and CO2 emissions, the leading driver climate change. Mr. Popovich tacitly admits CO2 is a problem, referencing the industry’s risky, dangerous and impractical attempts to capture it. We can’t stop coal use immediately, but we must rapidly decrease it. We should stop all new coal exploration, while taking care of the workforce. It’s time to move onto clean energy before the effects of coal burden our grandchildren to the breaking point. For more information, sign onto Citizens Climate Lobby. Tune into Years of Living Dangerously on the National Geographic channel, Wednesdays at 8PM.
Tom Butine
Board President of Conserve Southwest Utah
Co-leader of the Southwest Utah Chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby.