In this Section

Issues: Energy

Popular Tags [ View All Tags ]:: california; coal; drilling; energy efficiency; energy policy; gas prices; oil; renewable energy; solutions; vehicles; what you can do

All Tags [ View Popular Tags ]:: AB 1493; agriculture; air pollution; airlines; appliances; Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; asthma; auto industry; automakers; biodiesel; biofuels; birds; BLM; boreal forest; buses; bush administration; buying clean energy; California; Canada; cancer; carbon offsets; caribou; case studies; causes; Cheney energy task force; China; clean energy; cleantech; coal; coal-fired power plants; compact fluorescent lighting; conservation and restoration; consumer products; diesel; diesel buses; diesel exhaust; dirty fuels; drilling; efficient vehicles; electric utilities; electricity industry; emissions; emphysema; energy efficiency; energy policy; energy security; environmental history; EPA; ethanol; exhaust; fuel economy; fuel savings; gas drilling; gas mileage; gas prices; gasoline; global warming; global warming emissions; global warming legislation; green buildings; green diesel; health; health effects; household energy use; human health; hybrid bus; hybrid electric vehicles; hybrid vehicles; hybrids; hydrogen; hydropower; indoor air quality; jobs; Kids' Health; landfill gas; lead; liquid coal; location efficient mortgages; Los Angeles; mass transit; mercury; national security; natural gas; NEPA; new energy economy; New York; New York City; nitrogen oxides; nrdc offices; nuclear energy; offshore drilling; oil; oil price spikes; oil shale; open space; ozone; particulate pollution; photos; polar bears; policy; pollution; public lands; public transportation; redrock country; renewable energy; renewables; respiratory illness; Rocky Mountains; smart growth; smog; solar power; solutions; soot; sprawl; sulfur dioxide; tar sands; tourism; transportation; trucks; vehicle; vehicles; water management; western water; what you can do; wind power; Yellowstone

Liquid Coal

Take Action! Tell Congress to say "No" to the liquid coal industry.

CRUDE SUBSTITUTE

The Folly of Liquid Coal: See the video

»Cartoon: Liquid Coal: Don't Buy It

The coal industry is touting a plan to transform millions of tons of coal into diesel fuel and other liquid fuels using an expensive, inefficient process that releases large quantities of global warming pollution. Producing liquid coal fuel generates twice as much heat-trapping carbon dioxide as producing ordinary gasoline. Even if the CO2 released by liquid coal plants is captured, the emissions would still be higher than the emissions from today's crude oil system.

In addition to nearly doubling global warming pollution, relying on synthetic liquid coal fuel would increase the harmful effects of coal mining on communities and ecosystems from Appalachia to the Rocky Mountains. Stepping up coal production to generate liquid fuels would mean stepping up strip-mining and mountaintop removal, which can destroy wildife habitats, aquifers and open space. Coal mining also produces hazardous and toxic wastes that can contaminate groundwater.