On his website, Sen. Obama states, "Will we stand by while drought and famine, storms and floods overtake our planet? Or will we look back at today and say that this was the moment when we took a stand? That this was the moment when we began to turn things around?"
An excellent question, to which I must respond with a question of my own. Why the hell are you championing liquid coal technology? For those of you unclear, or confused about this idea, here's a little background:
Liquid coal is essentially the process of transforming coal into a liquid fuel to be used in our automobiles. For the record, President Bush has made this the centerpiece of his "effort" to fight global warming.
This is similar to fighting a forest fire with napalm. Based on information from the Department of Energy, NRDC has published some frightening statistics (pdf) about liquid coal, the worst being that when looked at in it's entire life cycle, liquid coal produces about twice as much CO2 as conventional fuel.
According to Headwaters Inc, each liquid coal plant will need about 8,500,000 tons of coal to produce fuel each year, and it will take approximately 1/2 a ton of coal to produce each barrel of oil. Given the horrors of mountaintop and open pit mining, one of the last sane ways to break free of oil is to become even more of a coal junkie than we already are.
In a speech on April 3, 2006, Senator Obama said, "But of course, one of the biggest contributors to our climate troubles and our energy dependence is oil, and so any plan for the future must drastically reduce our addiction to this dirty, dangerous, and ultimately finite source of energy."
Actions do speak louder than words - and while he's talking tough about global warming, he's supporting legislation (pdf) to take us backwards, not forwards, in our energy policy. Senator Obama needs to know that we cannot accept swapping one 'dirty, dangerous, and ultimately finite source of energy' for another that's as bad, if not worse.
Environmental Action has set up two petitions on the issue - the first, to Sen. Obama asking him to break free from his addiction to coal, and the second to David Geffen, asking him to use his clout with Obama to push him on this issue.