Rosemary Crawford, Center for Energy Matters, Speaks on the Costs of Burning Coal in Oklahoma

Energy Effiency - the Most Important Fuel of All.

Rosemary Crawford, Sustainable Shawnee VP, gave an excellent presentation on the proposed expansion of the coal-fired energy plant in Panama, OK. Though AES, owners of the facility, have withdrawn their application with the Oklahoma Dept. of Environmental Quality, the fate of the expansion has not yet been finalized. She spoke quite eloquently about the human costs of burning coal for energy encouraging everyone present to be energy conservation ambassadors to the community. She emphasized that the choices we make in our homes and businesses have a real, measurable impact on the families that live near these coal plants. Reducing the amount of coal burned for energy in Oklahoma starts with you and the people whose behavior we influence in our everyday lives.
Under the Bush Administration, mercury emissions laws were weaken to make it easier for older coal-fired plants to operate without meeting Clean Air regulations. Not any more. The Obama Administration is actively petitioning for a reversal of the current policy and long-awaited changes are expected soon.
The Tulsa World recently printed an editorial praising the idea of demand-side management for one simple reason - it's so easy. Instead of fighting about which form of energy is the safest, most inexpensive and plentiful, we could all conserve energy in our homes and really accomplish something.

He's got a point there.