Twenty four years ago, on this day, October 16th, 2001
Washington, DC – With many areas of the country still facing tight electricity supplies in coming years, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham today announced more than $110 million in new projects to apply leading edge clean coal technologies to improve the reliability and environmental performance of the Nation’s coal-burning power plants.
Abraham announced that the federal government will share the costs of outfitting eight power plants to become “showcases” of ways coal plants can continue generating low-cost electricity with better performance and in compliance with tight environmental standards.
http://www.fe.doe.gov/techline/techlines/2001/tl_ppii_sel.html
October 16, 2001 Abraham Announces Projects to Bolster Electricity Supply from Coal Plants “Power Plant Improvement Initiative” is Precursor to President’s Clean Coal Technology Program
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 371ppm. As of 2025, when this post was published, it is 425ppm. This matters because the more carbon dioxide in the air, the more heat gets trapped. The more heat, the more extreme weather events. You can make it more complicated than that if you want, but really, it’s not. Fwiw, I have a tattoo of the Keeling Curve on my left forearm.
The broader context was that the US was in one of its periodic phases of announcing “energy independence” (see also Nixon in late 1973).
The specific context was Dubya Bush on the campaign trail had said that carbon dioxide would need regulating. After his daddy’s Supreme Court picks gifted him the White House, his boss (Dick Cheney) kibboshed that.
What I think we can learn from this – they lie, they lie, they lie.
What happened next – most of the power plants never got built (in part thanks to the Sierra Club, with a $50m donation from Michael Bloomberg).
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.
Also on this day:
October 16, 1956 – will H-bombs knock the world off balance!?
October 16, 1979 – Exxon memo on the potential impact of fossil fuel combustion – All Our Yesterdays
October 16, 1990 – Green groups say yes to “Ecologically Sustainable Development”
October 16, 1997 – Australian businessman declares climate change “no longer an issue”