Coal-fired generation

British Columbia doesn't generate electricity from coal. Yet if the BC government gets its way, we'll have new plants under construction by the middle of the decade.

Generating steam, and then electricity, from coal was what made the industrial revolution possible.

But with time, jurisdictions that use coal for power generation, like Europe and the United States, recognized that there are big environmental and health problems associated with it.  And they have taken constructive action.

Ontario's government has set a goal of phasing out coal by 2007.  And where coal is still in use, emission standards have become extremely stringent.

The reasons are familiar to us all. Coal is a notorious polluter, the primary source of acid rain. Particulates, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury are among the most toxic of emissions from combustion of coal. The first three are now regulated everywhere, and mercury soon will be.

The one exception in the developed world, to this move away from coal, is British Columbia.

The government in BC came to power on a promise of opening up the province for coal-fired generation. It may be of more than passing interest that the single largest corporate donor to the BC Liberals - Teck Cominco - is also the largest coal miner in the province.

Once in power, the Energy Plan released in November 2002 included a “policy action” specifically created “to allow for a fair evaluation of coal-fired electricity projects”, because “Coal-fired electricity generation is currently an important source of electricity in other provinces, but not in B.C., despite large resources of cleaner thermal coal.”;

In January 2003, the government released new Coal-Fired Power Boiler Emission Guidelines, a giveaway to the industry, setting a shameful standard for BC that matches the least stringent requirements in other jurisdictions in North America. Mercury,the most toxic of emissions, is in the process of being regulated everywhere, yet it is omitted from the BC guidelines.