NASA expert decries coal energy

N.C. environmental groups have been challenging the expansion of Duke Energy's coal-fired energy program in Cliffside since the project was granted state approval earlier this year, and this weekend the debate captured the attention of one of NASA's top climate scientists.

NC WARN and the Carolinas Clean Air Coalition sponsored talks in Charlotte and Chapel Hill by James Hansen, head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, in response to the N.C. Utilities Commission's approval of one of Duke Energy's proposed plants.

Hansen has tracked Earth's temperature for decades, and Saturday he spoke at UNC's Friday Center about the effect plants such as the Cliffside Steam Station can have on climate change.

"We really have reached the point of a planetary emergency," he said, adding that carbon emissions are approaching a tipping point at which climate change will be irreversible.

Hansen said he supports a moratorium on all coal-fired power plants. Instead, he suggested, the nation should rely on energy derived from oil and gas.

He also said he was critical of the influence energy companies have on U.S. government policy.

"The democratic process still works," he said. "But there are special interests who have more sway than one person, one vote."

Volunteers at the Friday Center passed out postcards addressed to Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers requesting that the Cliffside project be canceled.

Tom Williams, a spokesman for Duke Energy, said Hansen, in opposing all coal-fired plants, must not understand that some coal-fired plants are better than others.

Coal-fired plants still supply half of all electricity used by Americans, and a quarter of the world coal supply comes from the United States.

"We have a statutory obligation to deliver power at the least cost possible," Williams said, adding that the new plant will actually improve emissions in all categories and use 88 percent less water than the project uses now.

But Hansen said such improvements do not justify continued use of coal-fired power plants.

Duke Energy plans to retire four older coal-fired plants and replace them with the new unit, which Williams said will provide jobs and increase the tax bases of both Rutherford and Cleveland counties, where the Cliffside plant will be built.

"We have had no local opposition," he said. "We have tremendous support for the project."

He added that the N.C. Utilities Commission said it would be imprudent to pursue natural gas when they approved the coal-fired plant.

Mike Nicklas, president of Innovative Design, a Raleigh architecture firm focusing on energy efficiency and sustainability, spoke Saturday at the Friday Center about other steps North Carolina can take to reduce energy consumption and slow climate change.

He discussed his company's efforts within the state to promote energy efficiency and said it was important to train engineers and architects at the university level in energy-efficient design techniques.

"This battle can be won," he said. "It can be won on an efficiency basis and a renewable basis."

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.