Courtesy of http://www.sightline.org
President Obama is boldly indicating that King Coal might just relinquish the energy throne. New regulatory standards the Obama administration has proposed for carbon dioxide emissions essentially block the construction of any new coal-fired power plants.
Who could have seen this coming?
Well, not necessarily the coal being dethroned thing, but the things-actually-getting-done-during-an-election-year thing. Seriously, environmental legislation at a time like this is pretty surprising.
The possible diminishing of coal’s dominion is not much of a shock. Coal’s power has already been declining even without this recent “assault,” as some coal advocates in Congress may call it.
In light of the natural gas boom, which has driven down the price of natural gas, there has naturally been a decrease in the construction of coal-fired plants.
Though roughly half of US energy is derived from coal, King Coal’s grip on the throne is ebbing.
Should coal be toppled, there’s not much doubt that the fossil fuel lineage will continue to reside with the monarchy. Natural gas continues to rise from the rocky depths of the energy debate, and it may be the pretender to the crown.
