It’s not news when I criticize Congress’s proposals to subsidize coal-to-liquids (CTL). After all, my focus is avoiding serious global warming, which CTL would only make more likely.
But when two newspapers from traditional coal regions say "no" to CTL, that is a man-bites-dog story.
The Kentucky Herald-Leader has a great headline:
Liquid coal a new version of snake oil: Don’t subsidize energy plans that would worsen global warming.
The Roanoke Times of the coal-region of Southwestern Virginia has an equally strong headline:
Billion-dollar boondoggle: Coal-to-liquid technology is expensive, harmful to the environment and inefficient. The federal government should take no part in subsidizing it.
Wisdom in the media on these issues is rare. Kudos to both papers for putting the long-term national interest above short-term local interests.
This post was created for ClimateProgress.org, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
