CCS: Saving US Coal Power?

AEP's Mountaineer Plant

Today we got to visit American Electric Power’s Mountaineer Plant in New Haven, West Virginia. AEP is the nation’s largest utility, serving more than 5 million customers in 11 states. The company also burns more coal and emits more CO2 than anybody else in the country. As lawmakers in Congress are debating national climate change legislation, which would put a price on carbon pollution for the first time in US history, the company has started a pilot project, which Matt Wald of the New York Times describes pretty well here. Here you can find a 2-minute video on the project — if you are not into the whole “reading” thing.

But by far the best documentary summary of the role coal power place in US energy economics and the impact it has on global warming you see below. The video is part of Frontline’s fantastic documentary “Heat,” which you watch in full length and for for free here.