US agency blocks construction of coal-fired plant

The United States’ Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a ruling that may well bring an end to the constructions of coal-fired plants in the country.

As the Bush Presidency is ending, this institution is finally getting more serious on limiting carbon dioxide emissions of the world’s largest emitter.

The construction and use of alternative energy sources – renewables and nuclear – will become more easier and faster.

As the Huffington Post in its Green section notes:

The EPA just struck a major blow to coal power plants trying to rush construction before an Obama administration has the chance to pass new regulations. The EPA coal plant ruling that came down late Thursday said that a permit for a new plant in Utah wouldn’t be granted over global warming risks:

“The Environmental Protection Agency’s appeals panel rejected the permit issued by its Denver office, saying it had failed to support a decision to grant the plant a permit without requiring the best available controls to limit carbon dioxide, the main gas blamed for warming the planet.”

(…) Lawyers for an environmental group that had sought the review of the regional permit said the decision puts into question the fate of dozens of planned coal-fired power plants.”

Blogging here at the Huffington Post, Sierra Club executive director Carl Pope wrote that the EPA coal decision signaled that change has arrived:

President Bush may have been willing to ignore the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that carbon dioxide is an air pollutant and that EPA must regulate it, but as the clock runs out on Bush’s presidency, the EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) signaled the end of the Bush era this morning and the beginning of a clean energy future.

The same Huffington Post proposed an overview of what could become a common situation if coal-fired plants were to be completely banned or their construction slowed down.

Nuclear power plants, with greenhouse gases emissions many times lower than dirty coal, would be brought forward. Here it goes:

This week’s decision by state regulators to pull the plug on a planned coal-fired power plant in southwest Wisconsin sent a clear signal to lawmakers:

It’s time to abandon Wisconsin’s moratorium on the construction of nuclear power plants.

Wisconsin can no longer ignore the fact that the need to combat pollution and the demand for cost-effective power are making it imperative that nuclear energy be among the state’s options for generating the electricity to meet a growing demand.

This week the state Public Service Commission, on a 3-0 vote, rejected a proposal from Wisconsin Power & Light to build a coal-fired power plant along the Mississippi River near Cassville.

Read the full story here

And you, what do you think about this ? Is it only the beginning of a new era for electricity generation in the United States ?

Personally, I am confident this is only a start.

In any case, be sure that I will keep you posted. So for this, and for much more, stay tuned !