In article , Marissa Payton wrote:

Ideally it would make sense to follow the lead of countries such as
France, who make almost all of their electricity without burning any
fossil fuels. But the US has reversed its (temporary) earlier leadership
in this area and continues to depend more and more on fossil fuels,
including coal.

Burning coal isn't optimal, but newer technologies can at least remove
major pollutants, including mercury. Unfortuanately a lot of plants are
old and emit a lot more mercury than newer technology plants. Public
policy that permits these emissions and does not discourage them to phase
out is bad public policy. Unfortunately US energy policy has been bad
public policy for decades and no relief is in sight during my lifetime.


We have old coal fired power plants for all of these many reasons:

1. Nobody wants a new cleaner one in their backyard - the NIMBYs will
oppose it as a polluter!

2. Every non-oil power plant that can be used reduces the need to burn
oil.

3. Nuclear power has stagnated in the USA for the past 30 years, in the
name of protecting the environment!

4. Demand for electric energy has continued to grow, due to population
increase and air-conditioning all of the McMansions that have popped up in
the last decade. 300 watt torchiere lamps and larger size TVs also
contributed somewhat to increasing demand for electric energty.

- Don Klipstein )