Open Letter to Mr. McCall
Last spring, UNCW ECO met with you about the impacts of fossil fuels and Progress Energy’s plans for renewable energy development. We are deeply disturbed by your ambivalence surrounding several important environmental and human health issues and Progress Energy’s lack of commitment to clean and safe energy.
Despite documented environmental destruction and risks to human life caused by fossil fuel generated electricity, Progress Energy is doing the bare minimum under state law to invest in clean, safe renewable energy generation. Furthermore, you have no plans for investments in renewables past 2020. This is unacceptable. The evidence for the detrimental effects of fossil fuels on the environment and human health cannot be ignored any longer. Progress Energy must move away from fossil fuels and show leadership in renewable energy generation to protect our future.
During our meeting, you revealed that you had not seen any proof of human-caused global warming. The vast majority of scientists agree that global warming is caused primarily by carbon dioxide produced from fossil fuel burning. As an executive of a major utility, we suggest you review the literature on this critical issue. Global warming is happening, and it is already affecting millions of people around the world through drought, wildfires, severe weather, and sea level rise. As stated in a report by Oxfam, 21,000 people around the world died in 2010 due to climate-related events. This is double the number of people who died in 2009 due to climate-related events.[i] Given the information made widely available by the world’s leading climate scientists, it is crucial that we act now in aiming to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.[ii] The world must mobilize rapidly to secure a clean energy future.
You claimed to be unaware of the process of mountaintop removal coal mining. This process that Progress Energy is supporting is destroying the second most biologically diverse ecosystem in the world and is causing the people of Appalachia to suffer from serious health risks, including cancer and death. Mountaintop removal mining is flattening hundreds of square miles of irreplaceable mountains and contaminating drinking water sources that provide for millions of Americans with toxins including arsenic, cadmium and mercury.[iii]
Another issue you denied was the problem of air pollution. The EPA has found that as many as 36,000 Americans die each year as result of coal-fired power plants.[iv] In more tangible terms, that means approximately one coal-related death every 15 minutes. In a 2009 report, Physicians for Social Responsibility stated that “coal pollutants affect all major body organ systems and contribute to four of the five leading causes of mortality in the U.S.: heart disease, cancer, stroke, and chronic lower respiratory diseases.”[v] A 2004 Clean Air Task Force report revealed that nearly one in ten American children has asthma.iv The connections between Progress Energy’s use of coal and the chronic health problems and deaths of people around America must be made. Your company is poisoning people because burning coal is cheap.
You told us that most people in North Carolina do not want renewable energy. In a survey of 629 western North Carolina residents, we found the opposite to be true. The survey, conducted by Public Policy Polling in April of 2010, showed 85% want more electricity to come from wind power. 88% said that wind turbines would have a very positive, positive, or neutral effect on the appearance of the landscape. Additionally, 82% said they wanted more electricity from solar.[vi] It is clear that many North Carolinians are looking for cleaner alternatives.
Progress Energy’s investments in natural gas are not a step forward. Natural gas is not a clean burning fuel and therefore, is not a solution. According to a study conducted by Ecology Professor Robert Howarth at Cornell University, the combined effects of combustion, production, distribution, and leaked methane from fractured natural gas emits the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions as coal and about 30 percent more than diesel or gasoline. Natural gas is also a rapidly depleting fuel that significantly contaminates groundwater in its extraction process. [vii]
Renewable energy sources continue to prove their dependability around the world. The UN Environmental Programme recently reported that alternative energy now accounts for a quarter of global generating capacity.[viii] The National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that winds off US coasts have the capacity to generate more energy than all currently existing power plants in the country combined.[ix] In North Carolina, we have many opportunities to develop wind energy on our coastline and mountains, and opportunities for solar and geothermal energy are just as viable.
If Progress Energy were truly progressive, your renewable energy investments would exceed the requirements of state mandates. It is crucial that we phase out fossil fuels and move onward to a clean energy future as swiftly as the science says we must. We implore you to invest boldly in renewable energy. Progress Energy needs to be a leader in a clean energy revolution that would drastically improve human health around the world and mitigate the effects of climate change. We look forward to continuing our dialogue with you about Progress Energy’s efforts. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
UNCW ECO
Sources:
[i] “Climate Deaths More than Double in 2010- Oxfam.” Reuters. 29 Nov. 2010. 26 Jan. 2011. <http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFN2921808120101129>.
[ii] “Not Just a Number.” 350.org and the Center for Biological Diversity.26 Jan. 2011.
<http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/climate_law_institute/350_or_bust/pdfs/Not_Just_a_Number-v3.pdf>. PDF file.
[iii] “EPA Approves Mountaintop Removal Coal Mine.” Water World. 26 Jan. 2011. http://www.waterworld.com/index/display/article-display/0608701222/articles/industrial-waterworld/2010/issue-1/columns/epa-approves_mountaintop.html>.
[iv] “Dirty Air, Dirty Power: Mortality and Health Damage Due to Air Pollution from Power Plants.” Clean Air Task Force. June 2004. 26 Jan. 2011. <http://www.catf.us/resources/publications/view/24>.
[v] “Coals Assault on Human Health.” Physicians for Social Responsibility. 26 Jan. 2011. <http://www.psr.org/resources/coals-assault-on-human-health.html>. PDF file.
[vi] “Wind Energy Survey Results.” Public Policy Polling. 26 Jan. 2011. <http://www.wind.appstate.edu/sites/default/files/WindEnergyPollresults_0.pdf>. PDF file.
[vii] “Fracking Not a Cleaner Alternative- Cornell Prof.” Reuters. 31 Mar. 2010. 27 Jan. 2010. <http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN3119687220100331>.
[viii] “Clean Energy Beats Fossil Fuels for New Power in U.S., Europe.” Washington Post. 15 Jul. 2010. 27 Jan. 2011. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/15/AR2010071502899.html>.
[ix] “Assessment of Offshore Wind Energy Resources for the United States.” National Renewable Energy Laboratory. 26 Jan. 2011. <http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy10osti/45889.pdf>. PDF file.
Progress Energy says,
