Gore Urges Civil Disobedience to Stop Coal Plants
US: September 25, 2008
NEW YORK - Nobel Peace Prize winner and environmental crusader Al Gore urged
young people on Wednesday to engage in civil disobedience to stop the
construction of coal plants without the ability to store carbon.
The former US vice president, whose climate change documentary "An
Inconvenient Truth" won an Academy Award, told a philanthropic meeting in
New York City that "the world has lost ground to the climate crisis."
"If you're a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking
at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the
stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of
new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration," Gore
told the Clinton Global Initiative gathering to loud applause.
"I believe for a carbon company to spend money convincing the stock-buying
public that the risk from the global climate crisis is not that great
represents a form of stock fraud because they are misrepresenting a material
fact," he said. "I hope these state attorney generals around the country
will take some action on that."
The government says about 28 coal plants are under construction in the
United States. Another 20 projects have permits or are near the start of
construction.
Scientists say carbon gases from burning fossil fuel for power and transport
are a key factor in global warming.
Carbon capture and storage could give coal power an extended lease on life
by keeping power plants' greenhouse gas emissions out of the atmosphere and
easing climate change.
But no commercial-scale project exists anywhere to demonstrate the
technology, partly because it is expected to increase up-front capital costs
by an additional 50 percent.
So-called geo-sequestration of carbon sees carbon dioxide liquefied and
pumped into underground rock layers for long term storage. (Additional
reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Christine Kearney and Xavier
Briand)
Story by Michelle Nichols
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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