Tennessee students protest carbon capture plans

Climate change legislation, if it ever comes, should not include “clean coal research” said Tennessee activist groups, including Save Our Cumberland Mountains and Students Promoting Environmental Action in a protest this May.
Instead of focusing on coal research, investments should be directed toward alternative, renewable energy technologies, the students said. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology to capture the carbon dioxide and piping it deep into the ground in an effort to prevent the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
The students cited a study by Greenpeace, “False Hope: Why Carbon Capture and Storage Won’t Save the Climate” to support their argument.
The technology behind “clean coal” is unsafe, too expensive and too late to avert climate change, according to a report by a panel of scientists released by Greenpeace International in May, 2008. Storing large amounts of carbon dioxide also poses tremendous safety risks. (See www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports?page=2)