Coal moratorium

"Coal moratorium" refers to a halt in construction of new-coal fired power plants. Some proponents of such a moratorium make an exception for plants that include coal capture and sequestration; others propose an unqualified ban.

New Zealand

The industry journal Power Engineering announced in October 2007 that New Zealand had begun a 10-year moratorium on newthermal power plants construction, including coal, oil, and natural gas plants. New Zealand's moratorium applies to state-owned utilities only, but an extension to the private sector was reported to be under consideration.

California

California's SB 1368 created the first governmental moratorium on new coal plants in the United States. The law was signed in September 2006, took effect for investor-owned utilities in January 2007, and took effect for publicly-owned utilities in August 2007. SB 1368 applied to long-term investments (five years or more) by California utilities, whether in-state or out-of-state. It set the standard for greenhouse gas emissions at 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour, the equal to the emissions of a combined-cycle natural gas plant. This standard created a de factor moratorium on new coal, since it could not be met without carbon capture and sequestration.

Texas

In 2006 a coalition of Texas groups organized a campaign in favor of a statewide moratorium on new coal-fired power plants. The campaign culminated in a "Stop the Coal Rush" mobilization, including rallying and lobbying, at the state capital in Austin on February 11 and 12th, 2007. Over 40 citizen groups supported the mobilization.f

In January, 2007, A resolution calling for a 180-day moratorium on new pulverized coal plants was filed in the Texas Legislature on Wednesday by State Rep. Charles "Doc" Anderson (R-Waco) as House Concurrent Resolution 43. The resolution was left pending in committee. On December 4, 2007, Rep. Anderson announced his support for two proposed integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) coal plants proposed by Luminent (formerly TXU).

Groups supporting a coal moratorium

• Rainforest Action Network
• Kansas Sierra Club
• U.S. Climate Emergency Council
• Coal Moratorium Now!
• Coop America

Individuals supporting a coal moratorium

• Al Gore
• James Hansen

John Edwards criticized for pseudo-support of a coal moratorium

Writing in the online magazine Grist, columnist David Roberts reported that he had contact the John Edwards campaign for clarification about Edwards's position on a coal moratorium. According to Roberts, "There was some question in this thread about what exactly John Edwards means when he says he would "require that all new coal-fired plants be built with the required technology to capture their carbon dioxide emissions." Would he require that new coal plants sequester their emissions, or merely that they be built in such a way that they could sequester their emissions at some point in the future? I called the Edwards campaign today. The answer is the latter: the ban would not require coal plants to sequester their emissions; it would merely require compatibility." In other words, Edwards would allow plants to be built that might sequester their emissions at some future date.