I understand where Delaware's coming from. I get what New York is saying. I totally dig the sentiments of Maine.
But I think if I were Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, I would tell them all to STFU!
Those three states, along with Connecticut, California, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin, have called out Sebelius, and by extension Kansas, in the National Media for plans to build three coal-fired power plants in western Kansas.
They have condescendingly urged Sebelius to "ban" the construction of the plants, which locals think will provide as many as 2,000 construction jobs and an economic expansion.
Frankly, coal-powered plants seem a bit antiquated to me. I'm no expert on power generation (except for natural gas generation after a night of Mexican food), but it seems like building a coal-fired plant is sort of like starting a company to sell 8-track tape players.
But I find the condescending meddling by east-coast and west-coast hypocrites to be extremely off-putting. Hey New York, what about all the pollution you're causing (and I'm not just talking about cultural pollution). Launch any garbage barges lately?
Hey California, why not look into the 140,000 metric tons of ozone and diesel particulates put out by Hollywood each year. Hey Maine, try not fishing the Atlantic to death sometime.
The point is everyone has their own problems to deal with. Go deal with them and let Kansas deal with Kansas' problems. Is there a polite way to say mind your own damn business?
Either way, Sebelius is likely to "ban" the new coal plants. The Kansas governor's mansion is a stepping stone for her, and she can't afford to piss off the politically powerful potential allies on the coasts.
tagged: Kansas, California, New York, pollution, Kathleen Sebelius, coal, environmentalist
You might be surprised if you did a little light reading on coal-fired power plants. They are pretty cool, really (and I'm no coal shill, for what it's worth). The plants are heavily regulated with respect to their emissions, gaseous and particulate, so much that they end up having less of an aggregate negative effect long-term than do their nuke counterparts. Plus, the fly-ash collected by the massive Ionic-Breeze-like collection grids is actually a rather valuable byproduct, and is used in the manufacture of drywall. Plus, we have more coal in the U.S. than there is oil in the middle east, to which I say use it and we could put some downward pressure on those bastards and their strongheld black gold market.
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