Clean Air Needs a Real Plan

In “Waking Up in Texas to Clean Fresh Air,” it is suggested that Texas should adopt the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan to improve the environment.  The blog mentions how the plan will require a reduction in greenhouse gases by coal-powered electric generating plants, however it provides no evidence for supporting the plan’s approval and acceptance.  While acknowledging that the plan will be expensive, it is asserted that the “cost will be worth it” but neglects to mention the fact that this cost will be recurring and potentially harmful to the economy.  Furthermore, it is suggested in the blog that Texas needs to accept this plan because “Texas is a big state [with fracking and oil production];” however, fracking and producing oil have little relevance to greenhouse gases.  Finally, it is suggested that Texas has a choice of adopting this plan: it doesn’t.  This plan will be forced on Texas and all other states by the federal government.

Greenhouse gases are released by both natural and human processes around the world.  These include among other activities, decomposition of organic matter, ocean releases, respiration, cement production, deforestation, and the burning of fossil fuels.  While some of these processes are susceptible to reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, others are not.  Coal-fired power plants can be controlled to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases, as this blog indicates, the costs will be high, which could lead to shutting down many of these plants.

There is no discussion of the downsides of the plan or the closing of these electric plants.  Besides making electricity less available, and possibly raising the price of electricity, there are some benefits that can be achieved from coal plants.  Studies are being done to determine the reductions in greenhouse gases in cement production that are available by replacing cement with fly ash, one of the residues generated by coal combustion.  These studies have shown that, by replacing 60% of the cement used in Texas concrete production with fly ash, carbon dioxide emissions, a primary greenhouse gas, could be reduced by 6.6 million tons annually, which is a substantial reduction.  With the adoption of the Clean Power Plan, programs, such as a new way to produce concrete, will be eradicated rather than strengthen and moved along faster and better.  Additionally, the blog refers to “small community programs” that are “only decreasing pollution by a little,” but makes no mention of the hundreds of research groups around the nation that are making huge steps to solving the problem of greenhouse gases.  Further, it is unlikely that adoption of the Clean Power Plan in the U.S. will cause China, which produces vastly more greenhouse gases, to incur these types of costs to reduce its greenhouse gases.  If reduction is not made on a global scale, then Obama’s plan is just wasting money.

When deciding whether the Clean Power Plan is worth the costs, there are several aspects that must be considered.  First consider how the Clean Power Plan will affect the electric industry in America if coal-fired power were replaced with gas-fired power.  What will happen if we have another gas shortage?  Having more than one type of fuel helps to ensure that enough electricity can be generated.  Another consideration is that the cost of implementing these changes introduced in the Clean Power Plan could outweigh the benefits of changing the source of power.  Greenhouse gases are also a global issue.  Implementing the Clean Power Plan will result in only a small portion of the world’s carbon emission being decreased as other countries, such as China, will most likely not follow our lead to reduce carbon emissions.  Another consideration that needs to be taken into account is how the Clean Power Plan could affect and harm other plans to reduce carbon emission that are currently being used and working.  Much thought and thorough consideration must be put into how much the Clean Power Plan will help or harm solutions to a problem that is being addresses every day.