Contribution from Local Power Plants to Global Climate Change

CLPPGCC
Stop pollution today, make babies tomorrow

12/16/2013

Table of Contents
1. Title Page 2. Position 3. Essay 4. History 5. Position of oppose 6. Conclusion 7. Cited Page

Position: Contribution from local power plants to global climate change is also known as global warming. This has been a never ending issue for the past two centuries. Our Organization CLPPGCC helps power plants to stop changing the climate in negative ways. Power plants send out hazardous pollution which causes harm to the environment. CLPPGCC will put this problem to an end. Contribution from local power plants to global climate is not difficult to fix, we just need the country as a whole to come together as one to resolve this problem.

Essay: Sea level rise is accelerating. The number of large is growing. Dangerous heat waves are becoming more common. Extreme storm events are increasing in many areas. More severe droughts are occurring in others. These are just some of the consequences of global warming, which are already having significant and harmful effects on our health, our environment, and our communities. Unless we take immediate action to address global warming, these consequences will continue to intensify, grow ever more costly, and increasingly affect the entire planet including you, your community, and your family. Our local power plants are overloading our atmosphere with carbon dioxide, which traps heat and steadily drives up the planets temperature. Where does all this carbon come from? The fossil fuels we burn for energy coal, natural gas, and oil. We wonder where all the health problems come from? They are linked to aging coal-fired power plants that shorten nearly 24,000 lives a year, including 2,800 from lung cancer, and nearly all those early deaths could be prevented if the U.S. government adopted stricter rules. Commissioned by environmental groups and undertaken by a consultant often used by the Environmental Protection Agency, the study concluded that 22,000 of those deaths are preventable with currently available technology.

Coal is almost exclusively produced for electrical generation. Coal production is often viewed as only a local environmental problem. Coal mining, particularly surface mining, has both long-term and short-term effects on land, including dust, noise, and water drainage/runoff. Preparation of coal produces both solid and liquid waste of which must be treated and disposed. Transportation of coal produces dust while coal storage produces dust to control and also results in water runoff problems.

The fuel oil burned in power plants is a byproduct of the petroleum industry, so electricity production is partially responsible for environmental issues associated with oil and hydrocarbon burning. This fuel burning produces many "greenhouse" gases. Other oil

environmental

impacts

associated

with

production include blowouts, spills, brine disposal, and the production of hydrogen sulfide.

Transportation of oil involves spill and leak hazards. Oil refining includes environmental effects such as explosions, fires, air emissions, noise, odor, and water runoff.

During the natural gas production, possible environmental effects include blowouts, leaks, hydrocarbon emissions, and trace metal emissions. The treatment of natural gas involves air emissions and the disposal of liquid residuals, while transportation and storage effects include spills and explosions.

Uranium mining involves concerns such as radioactive dust releases, mine water seepage, protection of workers from radioactivity, and the disposal of a large quantity of

mine waste containing a low level of radioactivity. Uranium treatment must dispose of mill tailings containing toxic metals and chemical wastes used in the treatment process, as well as radiological waste. The treatment of raw uranium also must deal with radioactive dust releases. The enrichment of uranium ore must account for liquid and gaseous effluent releases, and must recycle fission products. Transportation involves the hazard of the accidental release of radioactive particles. Some research suggests that power plants arent the source of the problem and that EPA should not impose stricter rules that could raise electricity rates, said Dan Riedinger of the Edison Electric Institute, an industry lobbying group. The Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, which represents many coal-burning utilities, said the report ignored that soot pollution from power plants dropped by 75 percent from 1970 to 1999, based on EPA and Energy Department figures, while energy use rose 41 percent.

"If environmentalist critics and their allies succeed in using regulatory or litigation tactics to push for actions well beyond what is necessary for protection of human health and the environment, consumers will be hurt," council director Scott Segal said in a statement. "There are profound impacts on those living in poverty or on fixed incomes when inflexible regulatory approaches are adopted that discourage the use of coal." says a researcher. We can act now to reduce our carbon emissions, slow the pace of global warming, and pass on a safer, healthier world to our children. Or we can choose to do nothing, continue pumping massive amounts of carbon into an already overloaded atmosphere, and suffer the increasingly costly consequences.

Work Cited:
Deadly power plants? Study fuels debate. (n.d.). msnbc.com. Retrieved December 17, 2013, from http://www.nbcnews.com/id/5174391/#.UrDQe_RDu8A Environmental Impact. (n.d.). Environmental Impact. Retrieved December 16, 2013, from http://www.dg.history.vt.edu/ch2/impact.html Global Warming: Confronting the Realities of Climate Change. (n.d.). Union of Concerned Scientists. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/ Home. (n.d.). Home. Retrieved December 17, 2013, from http://clppgcc.weebly.com/ Renaud, C. (Director). (2012). The Lorax[Motion picture]. united states: Universal Studios Home Entertainment. Fact Sheets. (n.d.). Nuclear Energy Institute. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from http://www.nei.org/Master-Document-Folder/Backgrounders/Fact-Sheets/NuclearPower-Plants-Contribute-Significantly-to-S NRG Energy likely to stop burning coal at plants in Montgomery, Prince Georges. (n.d.). POST LOCAL. Retrieved December 17, 2013, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/nrg-energy-likely-to-stop-burning-coal-at-plants-inmontgomery-prince-georges/2013/12/15/bb90f268-60f9-11e3-bf4561f69f54fc5f_story.html Taylor Dixsons and Valese Wilkersons mind