From the Bellingham Herald comes this bit of cheery news:
Proposal tries to help wean Washington off coal-fired power
Lawmakers hoping to wean Washington state off coal power are trying to ease the way for the state's utilities to end the electricity it gets from coal.
Bills in the House and Senate set up certain favorable conditions for three private utilities, should they decide in the future to shut down a massive coal-fired power plant in eastern Montana that provides power to a chunk of the Pacific Northwest.
Supporters say the proposal gives the utilities the tools they need to begin divesting from coal power plants, including a way for the utility to issue bonds for shutdown and other costs that would be paid back by ratepayers over time.
But the Sierra Club and other critics say the proposal removes too much utility oversight, sets too long a timeline for closing a power plant and doesn't ensure that coal power gets replaced by something cleaner.
Trying to force us into higher energy costs and lower consumption. Exactly the wrong way to grow an economy and help the environment. Coal is not as dirty as people make it out to be and it is dirt cheap - we have 500 years of it just sitting under our prairies.
When an economical form of alt-energy becomes available, there will be a huge exodus from whatever we are using to this new form. It will be driven by economics. This is how the market works - the market is immune to politics. You cannot legislate a demand for something - this has been attempted before and we give it the label of Tyranny.
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