Jeff Biggers: Dear Carol Browner: Dirty Coal Will Turn Green Recovery Gray

President-elect Barack Obama, energy/climate point person Carol Browner, and DOE nominee Stephen Chu face a historic decision: To commit to non-fossil fuel energy sources and effective action on climate destabilization, or remain quietly beholden to the dirty realities of coal. Al Gore's visit with Obama in Chicago last week could not have been more symbolic. Six months ago, in his "Generational Challenge to Repower America," Gore unveiled a remarkable challenge to our nation "to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly carbon-free sources within 10 years." But that carbon-free vision has never seemed so far away. Just last week, a controversial EPA ruling did away with a 25-year tradition to regulate the dumping of coal mining waste into waterways--a key component in the devastating impact of mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia. Departing EPA chief Stephen Johnson summed up the George W. Bush administration's unabashed support for the coal ... (link)