As enviros urge coal moratorium, federal report questions need for new plants
The event coincides with "America's Energy Future: Houston's Presidential Summit," a Feb. 28 conference sponsored by energy suppliers that will feature a speech by presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton.
Meanwhile, the movement to halt the construction of new coal plants has gotten a boost from the federal government itself. A new report [PDF] from the National Energy Technology Laboratory, a division of the Department of Energy devoted to fossil-fuel research, questions the need for all the new coal-fired power plants now being planned. Titled "Tracking New Coal-Fired Power Plants," the report states:
Coal-fired power plant development activity significantly exceeds the current estimate of need by [the Energy Information Administration].The report goes on to suggest that efforts to promote energy conservation and efficiency may be having an effect:
Low forecasts of demand growth add an element of"demand uncertainty" to the problems of regulatory uncertainty and rapidly escalating costs for coal-fired power plant development.
Labels: coal, coal moratorium, department of energy, energy policy, national energy technology laboratory


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