00:00:02.946 --> 00:00:06.383
[WESTERN MUSIC]

00:00:21.604 --> 00:00:24.730
- Lots of people I talk to have
no idea how much coal we still

00:00:24.730 --> 00:00:27.520
burn in America.

00:00:27.520 --> 00:00:29.830
They think it went out with
corsets and Charles Dickens

00:00:29.830 --> 00:00:30.330
novels.

00:00:41.230 --> 00:00:45.080
In fact, coal was the engine
of the Industrial Revolution.

00:00:45.080 --> 00:00:49.790
It forged the steel that built
our skyscrapers and cars.

00:00:49.790 --> 00:00:54.510
It creates the electricity that
lights up our cities and towns.

00:00:54.510 --> 00:00:56.600
It's the rock that
built America.

00:00:59.240 --> 00:01:01.830
We're still as dependent on
it today as we've ever been.

00:01:05.209 --> 00:01:07.280
Coal has brought us
this far and given us

00:01:07.280 --> 00:01:10.340
modern life as we know it.

00:01:10.340 --> 00:01:13.130
The question is, where is
it taking us in the future?

00:01:22.390 --> 00:01:26.590
If you could go behind the light
switch, if you could follow

00:01:26.590 --> 00:01:30.200
the electricity back
to the power plant,

00:01:30.200 --> 00:01:33.780
and if you could see the
coal being burned there,

00:01:33.780 --> 00:01:36.000
if you could look at the
pollution pouring out

00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:38.570
of the smokestacks
and warming the planet

00:01:38.570 --> 00:01:45.180
and shortening our lives, if you
could go back to the coal mines

00:01:45.180 --> 00:01:57.146
themselves and see the
mountains being blasted apart,

00:01:57.146 --> 00:02:00.880
and if you could somehow come up
with a full accounting of what

00:02:00.880 --> 00:02:11.220
it really means to be
dependent upon coal,

00:02:11.220 --> 00:02:14.119
would you feel the same
way about electricity?

00:02:55.530 --> 00:02:56.530
My name is Jeff Goodell.

00:02:56.530 --> 00:02:58.180
I write for Rolling
Stone magazine.

00:02:58.180 --> 00:03:00.460
I wrote a book called Big Coal.

00:03:00.460 --> 00:03:01.990
I grew up in Silicon Valley.

00:03:01.990 --> 00:03:06.670
I was very much a believer
in the whole miracle economy

00:03:06.670 --> 00:03:09.790
of Silicon Valley and, more
importantly, in the whole idea

00:03:09.790 --> 00:03:13.120
that technology can solve
all of our problems.

00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:15.850
I wrote a lot about the
wonders of the internet

00:03:15.850 --> 00:03:18.700
and the digital
economy and never

00:03:18.700 --> 00:03:21.550
gave a thought to where
the electrons come

00:03:21.550 --> 00:03:25.092
from that power that economy.

00:03:25.092 --> 00:03:27.550
And then one day an editor from
the New York Times Magazine

00:03:27.550 --> 00:03:29.830
called me up and
said, we think coal

00:03:29.830 --> 00:03:32.447
is going to make a big comeback
under the Bush administration.

00:03:32.447 --> 00:03:34.030
Why don't you go
down to West Virginia

00:03:34.030 --> 00:03:35.447
and write about
the coal industry?

00:03:38.110 --> 00:03:40.390
I really had no idea that
we still burned coal.

00:03:46.750 --> 00:03:49.030
And I'll never forget my
first look at a coal mine.

00:03:49.030 --> 00:03:51.320
I was driving outside
of Charleston,

00:03:51.320 --> 00:03:55.690
and I saw the boom of a drag
line over the top of a ridge.

00:03:59.780 --> 00:04:03.020
So I pulled my car over
to the side of the road

00:04:03.020 --> 00:04:05.690
and climbed up this
mountain to have

00:04:05.690 --> 00:04:09.680
a look into this
mine, and the way

00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:14.010
that this mine just opens up--
it was just like being dropped

00:04:14.010 --> 00:04:15.920
onto to another planet.

00:04:15.920 --> 00:04:18.589
It really didn't look very
much like planet Earth.

00:04:23.480 --> 00:04:25.330
They happened to be
blasting at that moment,

00:04:25.330 --> 00:04:27.701
so the ground was shaking.

00:04:27.701 --> 00:04:30.840
[EXPLOSION]

00:04:30.840 --> 00:04:32.090
You just blow up the mountain.

00:04:32.090 --> 00:04:35.960
You dump the mountains
into rivers and valleys,

00:04:35.960 --> 00:04:40.610
and you just scrape the coal
out then with big equipment.

00:04:40.610 --> 00:04:41.960
It opened my eyes.

00:04:41.960 --> 00:04:44.690
It was like the first time
you look into a slaughterhouse

00:04:44.690 --> 00:04:46.988
after you've spent a
lifetime eating hamburgers.

00:04:50.740 --> 00:04:53.790
And that changed my life.

00:04:53.790 --> 00:04:57.590
It made me think about, what
is the real cost of this?

00:05:02.290 --> 00:05:06.520
- You would think that
Boone County, West Virginia

00:05:06.520 --> 00:05:09.920
would be the richest place
in the country considering

00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:11.920
all the coal that comes
out of it, but it's not.

00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:12.628
It's the poorest.

00:05:15.150 --> 00:05:20.410
And it's because they take all
of the money and leave with it.

00:05:20.410 --> 00:05:26.400
[EXPLOSION]

00:05:26.400 --> 00:05:29.010
- Well, every day, it's
just like you wake up.

00:05:29.010 --> 00:05:31.800
Usually, I wake up to a big
blast is what wakes me up out

00:05:31.800 --> 00:05:33.180
of bed.

00:05:33.180 --> 00:05:39.520
And then on the days when
the wind is not calm,

00:05:39.520 --> 00:05:43.470
there comes a dust out of here
so thick that you actually

00:05:43.470 --> 00:05:46.170
can't hardly breathe.

00:05:46.170 --> 00:05:47.910
- Laura Webb and
Maria Gunnoe are

00:05:47.910 --> 00:05:51.870
part of a growing number of
West Virginians taking a stand

00:05:51.870 --> 00:05:54.000
against this kind of mining.

00:05:54.000 --> 00:05:57.150
Maria recently won a Goldman
Prize, the highest honor

00:05:57.150 --> 00:05:59.520
in environmental
activism, for her fight

00:05:59.520 --> 00:06:01.290
against mountaintop removal.

00:06:01.290 --> 00:06:03.120
- I don't feel like I
belong anywhere else.

00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:05.940
I feel like I belong
where I live at,

00:06:05.940 --> 00:06:09.540
and that's where
I intend on being.

00:06:09.540 --> 00:06:11.267
Dead or alive, that's
where I'll be at.

00:06:14.130 --> 00:06:16.303
We're losing-- we're
losing our rights is

00:06:16.303 --> 00:06:17.220
what it boils down to.

00:06:17.220 --> 00:06:21.030
We're losing our rights to
own and maintain our property.

00:06:21.030 --> 00:06:23.950
We're losing our rights to
our life and our health.

00:06:23.950 --> 00:06:27.450
We're losing our rights
to our children's future.

00:06:27.450 --> 00:06:32.220
Our children-- their future
is going to be somewhere else.

00:06:32.220 --> 00:06:33.330
It won't be here.

00:06:33.330 --> 00:06:36.300
There's nothing left
here to base a future on.

00:06:36.300 --> 00:06:40.590
- They are going to go all
the way, start at that ridge,

00:06:40.590 --> 00:06:42.660
and they're going to
come down, and they're

00:06:42.660 --> 00:06:44.410
going to go all the
way out of the holler,

00:06:44.410 --> 00:06:47.580
and they're going to take the
whole ridge all the way out.

00:06:47.580 --> 00:06:49.110
I think that I
should stay there.

00:06:49.110 --> 00:06:51.364
I think it's beautiful.

00:06:51.364 --> 00:06:54.738
[FOLK MUSIC]

00:07:02.460 --> 00:07:05.310
- Because of this industry,
the Appalachian Mountains

00:07:05.310 --> 00:07:06.180
have been destroyed.

00:07:06.180 --> 00:07:10.020
The high peaks of timber are
being destroyed by acid rain

00:07:10.020 --> 00:07:11.820
from these coal-burning
power plants, which

00:07:11.820 --> 00:07:14.360
have also sterilized
1/5 of the lakes

00:07:14.360 --> 00:07:16.155
in the Adirondack Mountains.

00:07:16.155 --> 00:07:19.070
[CROWD COMMOTION]

00:07:19.070 --> 00:07:22.340
My father was fighting
strip mining in Appalachia

00:07:22.340 --> 00:07:24.290
back in 1968.

00:07:24.290 --> 00:07:25.040
I had a--

00:07:25.040 --> 00:07:26.920
[CHEERING]

00:07:26.920 --> 00:07:30.690
I remember a conversation I had
with him where he said to me,

00:07:30.690 --> 00:07:32.640
they're not just
destroying the environment.

00:07:32.640 --> 00:07:35.010
They are permanently
impoverishing these communities

00:07:35.010 --> 00:07:38.130
because there is no way
that they can regenerate

00:07:38.130 --> 00:07:40.088
an economy from these
barren moonscapes that

00:07:40.088 --> 00:07:40.755
are left behind.

00:07:43.720 --> 00:07:46.330
- Two months into the
Obama administration,

00:07:46.330 --> 00:07:50.110
thousands of demonstrators
gathered in Washington, DC.

00:07:50.110 --> 00:07:52.570
They wanted to draw
attention to the impact

00:07:52.570 --> 00:07:54.314
of our dependence on coal.

00:07:54.314 --> 00:07:57.702
[CHANTING]

00:07:59.884 --> 00:08:01.990
We're right in front
of the coal plant

00:08:01.990 --> 00:08:04.480
here in Washington,
which has provided power

00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:07.180
for the capital
for many decades.

00:08:07.180 --> 00:08:10.480
And the idea that we had a
big old coal burner right

00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:14.710
downtown in Washington, within
a stone's throw of the Capitol,

00:08:14.710 --> 00:08:17.590
is sort of symbolic of the
political power in the coal

00:08:17.590 --> 00:08:19.210
industry.

00:08:19.210 --> 00:08:23.650
- It's worth remembering that
this plant, for 103 years,

00:08:23.650 --> 00:08:25.600
has been burning coal.

00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:29.500
And it was last Thursday
that Nancy Pelosi and Harry

00:08:29.500 --> 00:08:33.470
Reid decided maybe it could
get switched to natural gas.

00:08:33.470 --> 00:08:35.642
I don't think that was
just a coincidence.

00:08:38.203 --> 00:08:40.370
- One thing that climate
scientists are increasingly

00:08:40.370 --> 00:08:42.590
concerned about is
that we don't really

00:08:42.590 --> 00:08:45.230
know where the threshold
for dangerous climate change

00:08:45.230 --> 00:08:47.960
is, and scientists
like Jim Hansen

00:08:47.960 --> 00:08:49.790
have come to the
conclusion that we

00:08:49.790 --> 00:08:52.210
need to stop burning
coal entirely

00:08:52.210 --> 00:08:54.410
in the next two decades.

00:08:54.410 --> 00:08:57.230
- The science is clear.

00:08:57.230 --> 00:09:02.420
We cannot burn all of the
fossil fuels without producing

00:09:02.420 --> 00:09:07.250
consequences for humanity
and all the other species

00:09:07.250 --> 00:09:10.580
on the planet that
are unacceptable.

00:09:10.580 --> 00:09:15.980
The critical action required
is phase out of coal emissions

00:09:15.980 --> 00:09:16.875
in the near future.

00:09:20.060 --> 00:09:21.760
- I think Jim Hansen
makes things up.

00:09:21.760 --> 00:09:23.080
- You celebrate coal.

00:09:23.080 --> 00:09:24.070
- Yes.

00:09:24.070 --> 00:09:26.080
- Libertarian Myron
Ebell was on hand

00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:28.030
to represent the opposition.

00:09:28.030 --> 00:09:29.210
- Feeling good?

00:09:29.210 --> 00:09:29.710
- Yes.

00:09:29.710 --> 00:09:31.940
It's-- the weather's perfect.

00:09:31.940 --> 00:09:33.280
- Uh-huh?

00:09:33.280 --> 00:09:34.408
So what brings you out?

00:09:34.408 --> 00:09:35.950
- Well, we thought
we'd just come out

00:09:35.950 --> 00:09:39.830
to make the case for
affordable energy.

00:09:39.830 --> 00:09:44.790
- So I want to ask you about
this idea of clean coal.

00:09:44.790 --> 00:09:47.650
I mean, it's a high-profile
campaign right now.

00:09:47.650 --> 00:09:49.210
I mean, it's taking
a lot of flak,

00:09:49.210 --> 00:09:50.627
and environmentalists
say, there's

00:09:50.627 --> 00:09:52.090
no such thing as clean coal.

00:09:52.090 --> 00:09:55.240
- Well, their argument
is that coal is dirty

00:09:55.240 --> 00:09:58.030
and that it's causing
global warming.

00:09:58.030 --> 00:10:00.550
Our argument is that
coal provides us

00:10:00.550 --> 00:10:04.560
with 50% of the electricity
used in this country.

00:10:04.560 --> 00:10:07.600
It provides most of the
power used by manufacturing

00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:13.300
in this country, and it provides
huge numbers of blessings

00:10:13.300 --> 00:10:18.700
to humankind because modern
civilization runs on energy.

00:10:18.700 --> 00:10:21.595
- And as far as the CO2
and things from coal

00:10:21.595 --> 00:10:23.810
and what it does
to the climate--

00:10:23.810 --> 00:10:26.170
it's not our problem?

00:10:26.170 --> 00:10:28.440
- I think global
warming is not a crisis.

00:10:28.440 --> 00:10:29.440
- It's not a thing.

00:10:29.440 --> 00:10:32.470
- It's a potential
minor problem.

00:10:35.695 --> 00:10:37.070
- Mountaintop
removal coal mining

00:10:37.070 --> 00:10:39.860
is leveling large parts
of Central and Southern

00:10:39.860 --> 00:10:40.550
Appalachia.

00:10:43.280 --> 00:10:45.350
The worst of it is what
it's doing to the water

00:10:45.350 --> 00:10:47.960
supply of the region.

00:10:47.960 --> 00:10:50.960
They're destroying all the
headwaters and freshwater

00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:54.170
streams in this
region, which is having

00:10:54.170 --> 00:10:56.600
a devastating effect
on the drinking water

00:10:56.600 --> 00:10:59.360
supplies in that area.

00:10:59.360 --> 00:11:01.220
But coal executive
Don Blankenship

00:11:01.220 --> 00:11:03.800
denies that there is a problem.

00:11:03.800 --> 00:11:05.600
- As a result of
the surface mining,

00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:07.040
many times the water's improved.

00:11:07.040 --> 00:11:11.000
But there's no proof of
water damage downstream

00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:13.700
that's of any consequence.

00:11:16.820 --> 00:11:19.130
- Don Blankenship's
company, Massey Energy,

00:11:19.130 --> 00:11:21.980
is the fourth-largest coal
company in America and is

00:11:21.980 --> 00:11:26.660
the largest mountaintop
removal operator in Appalachia.

00:11:26.660 --> 00:11:29.600
- A successful coal
company is considered

00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:32.270
to be bad regardless
of what kind of job

00:11:32.270 --> 00:11:35.570
they do because people who
believe in climate change

00:11:35.570 --> 00:11:39.700
or who are somehow benefiting
from the environmental movement

00:11:39.700 --> 00:11:44.060
will say almost anything
to promote their own jobs.

00:11:44.060 --> 00:11:45.650
- In eastern Tennessee
tonight, there

00:11:45.650 --> 00:11:48.800
is growing concern after a
massive wall near a coal plant

00:11:48.800 --> 00:11:50.060
gave way earlier this week.

00:11:50.060 --> 00:11:52.950
An enormous amount of
coal ash residue, sludge,

00:11:52.950 --> 00:11:55.610
has spread across
entire communities.

00:11:55.610 --> 00:11:58.250
- Just like the recent
catastrophic coal ash spill

00:11:58.250 --> 00:12:01.340
in Tennessee, in
October 2000, it

00:12:01.340 --> 00:12:04.280
was Blankenship's company
that spilled more than 300

00:12:04.280 --> 00:12:08.300
million gallons of toxic coal
sludge into local streams

00:12:08.300 --> 00:12:09.425
in Martin County, Kentucky.

00:12:12.470 --> 00:12:15.650
It was 20 times larger than
the Exxon-Valdez oil spill.

00:12:18.380 --> 00:12:21.380
- These mining companies get
away with whatever they can,

00:12:21.380 --> 00:12:24.740
and it's really the problem of
the agencies that are supposed

00:12:24.740 --> 00:12:27.110
to be enforcing the law.

00:12:27.110 --> 00:12:28.790
- Joe Lovett is
an attorney who's

00:12:28.790 --> 00:12:31.520
been fighting mountaintop
removal mining, not

00:12:31.520 --> 00:12:34.520
so much going after the
coal companies themselves

00:12:34.520 --> 00:12:36.800
but going after the
regulatory agencies that

00:12:36.800 --> 00:12:39.650
are failing to
enforce the laws that

00:12:39.650 --> 00:12:42.260
would stop some of this mining.

00:12:42.260 --> 00:12:43.940
- These forests in
Central Appalachia

00:12:43.940 --> 00:12:46.190
are the most productive and
diverse temperate hardwood

00:12:46.190 --> 00:12:48.210
forests in the world.

00:12:48.210 --> 00:12:52.210
And when they're destroyed, our
native forests won't grow back.

00:12:54.950 --> 00:12:59.120
The mining companies take the
topsoil and the upper part

00:12:59.120 --> 00:13:01.550
of the strata and dump it
into the valley fills below,

00:13:01.550 --> 00:13:03.950
and what's left is
this shale material

00:13:03.950 --> 00:13:06.680
that won't grow our trees
because our trees require

00:13:06.680 --> 00:13:08.180
a slightly acidic
material, and this

00:13:08.180 --> 00:13:09.450
is a very alkaline material.

00:13:09.450 --> 00:13:11.850
And all that will
grow on it is grass,

00:13:11.850 --> 00:13:15.590
and it's sort of
impoverished grass at that.

00:13:15.590 --> 00:13:17.390
We look to the Clean
Water Act as a way

00:13:17.390 --> 00:13:19.910
to control the mines because
really what's happening

00:13:19.910 --> 00:13:22.580
is, we've lost thousands of
miles of headwater streams.

00:13:26.650 --> 00:13:29.620
- Surface mining, mountaintop
removal, whatever it is

00:13:29.620 --> 00:13:34.300
is a safe and environmentally
sound way of removing energy.

00:13:37.060 --> 00:13:39.300
So whatever damage one
wants to claim there is,

00:13:39.300 --> 00:13:42.150
it goes again to the
trade-off of whether we

00:13:42.150 --> 00:13:45.150
want to have inexpensive
energy, electricity,

00:13:45.150 --> 00:13:49.050
strong economy, good jobs,
and whether this country wants

00:13:49.050 --> 00:13:52.560
to increase or decrease its
dependency on foreign energy.

00:13:55.525 --> 00:13:57.650
- There's no connection
between mountaintop removal

00:13:57.650 --> 00:13:59.720
mining and energy independence.

00:13:59.720 --> 00:14:02.690
We don't use coal
to drive our cars.

00:14:02.690 --> 00:14:05.570
It doesn't liberate us
from the war in Iraq.

00:14:05.570 --> 00:14:07.280
The reason they're
leveling the mountains

00:14:07.280 --> 00:14:09.650
is because they want to get
the coal out of the ground

00:14:09.650 --> 00:14:11.510
as cheaply and as
quickly as possible

00:14:11.510 --> 00:14:15.080
and make as much
money as possible.

00:14:15.080 --> 00:14:18.113
They just want to get the
coal out of the ground today.

00:14:18.113 --> 00:14:21.564
[FOLK MUSIC]

00:14:38.927 --> 00:14:41.010
- When we're talking about
coal, what we're really

00:14:41.010 --> 00:14:42.720
talking about is money--

00:14:42.720 --> 00:14:45.090
not just the money he made
from extracting and burning

00:14:45.090 --> 00:14:47.100
the coal, but the
huge sums of money

00:14:47.100 --> 00:14:49.908
required to finance
plants like this.

00:14:49.908 --> 00:14:51.450
Some environmental
groups are getting

00:14:51.450 --> 00:14:53.850
increasingly savvy about
targeting the Wall Street

00:14:53.850 --> 00:14:56.970
firms that are bankrolling these
plants, asking whether they're

00:14:56.970 --> 00:14:58.680
really wise investments
in a world that

00:14:58.680 --> 00:15:01.410
takes global warming seriously.

00:15:01.410 --> 00:15:03.930
Is this the kind of business
that these big banks really

00:15:03.930 --> 00:15:04.660
want to be in?

00:15:04.660 --> 00:15:06.656
- (CHANTING) No new coal!

00:15:06.656 --> 00:15:08.153
No new coal!

00:15:08.153 --> 00:15:09.649
- What do we want?

00:15:09.649 --> 00:15:10.149
- Justice!

00:15:10.149 --> 00:15:11.646
- When do we want it?

00:15:11.646 --> 00:15:13.143
- Now!

00:15:13.143 --> 00:15:14.141
- Hey, Citi!

00:15:14.141 --> 00:15:15.139
- Hey, Citi!

00:15:15.139 --> 00:15:17.642
- You're funding global warming!

00:15:17.642 --> 00:15:18.850
- My name is Becky Tarbotton.

00:15:18.850 --> 00:15:21.010
I work for Rainforest
Action Network,

00:15:21.010 --> 00:15:22.480
and here today in
New York, we're

00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:24.567
here for two separate
but very related reasons.

00:15:24.567 --> 00:15:26.150
As you can see out
here on the street,

00:15:26.150 --> 00:15:28.660
there's 10, 20,
30 activists that

00:15:28.660 --> 00:15:31.838
are protesting Citi's financing
of coal-fire power plants

00:15:31.838 --> 00:15:33.130
and mountaintop removal mining.

00:15:33.130 --> 00:15:35.005
They're using traditional
protesting methods,

00:15:35.005 --> 00:15:37.120
making sure that every
shareholder going

00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:38.830
into Citi's Annual
General Meeting, which

00:15:38.830 --> 00:15:40.600
is being held here
today in the Hilton,

00:15:40.600 --> 00:15:43.990
knows that Citi is the
top financier of coal

00:15:43.990 --> 00:15:47.154
and needs to be held
responsible for that.

00:15:47.154 --> 00:15:50.110
- Hey, Citi!

00:15:50.110 --> 00:15:51.890
- And on the books
today at Citi,

00:15:51.890 --> 00:15:54.430
there is a shareholder
resolution that is calling

00:15:54.430 --> 00:15:56.643
on Citi to stop financing
mountaintop removal

00:15:56.643 --> 00:15:58.810
and coal-fire power plants,
so I'm going in to speak

00:15:58.810 --> 00:16:01.879
in support of that
shareholder resolution.

00:16:01.879 --> 00:16:04.244
- You've got an important
mission in front of you.

00:16:04.244 --> 00:16:05.202
You don't look at that.

00:16:05.202 --> 00:16:07.904
You look beyond it.

00:16:07.904 --> 00:16:08.858
- Hey, Citi!

00:16:08.858 --> 00:16:09.812
- Hey, Citi!

00:16:09.812 --> 00:16:11.243
- Coal is over!

00:16:11.243 --> 00:16:12.680
- Coal is over!

00:16:12.680 --> 00:16:14.880
- I plan to ask Citi
how they can profess

00:16:14.880 --> 00:16:17.160
to be climate leaders, as
they have done publicly

00:16:17.160 --> 00:16:19.860
in many venues over the
last year especially,

00:16:19.860 --> 00:16:22.770
and continue to be the lead
financier of the top five

00:16:22.770 --> 00:16:25.740
mountaintop removal companies,
such as Arch Coal and Massey

00:16:25.740 --> 00:16:28.810
and Magnum and so forth.

00:16:28.810 --> 00:16:32.910
You can link Citi to about 50%
of all the new coal-fire power

00:16:32.910 --> 00:16:34.980
plants that are being
planned in the US.

00:16:34.980 --> 00:16:37.210
- We want our mountains back!

00:16:37.210 --> 00:16:38.550
- We want our mountains back!

00:16:38.550 --> 00:16:39.780
- And I just wanted
to let you know

00:16:39.780 --> 00:16:41.250
that I've checked out
the press release,

00:16:41.250 --> 00:16:42.390
and I think it looks great.

00:16:42.390 --> 00:16:45.450
RAN has been around since
1985, and since that time,

00:16:45.450 --> 00:16:47.310
we've been working to
pressure corporations

00:16:47.310 --> 00:16:50.250
to take responsibility
for their actions.

00:16:50.250 --> 00:16:52.470
Energy demand is
increasing dramatically,

00:16:52.470 --> 00:16:56.510
and the argument from the banks,
from the utilities is, my God,

00:16:56.510 --> 00:16:57.240
we need coal.

00:16:57.240 --> 00:16:59.820
We need coal to
keep the lights on.

00:16:59.820 --> 00:17:02.470
Our response is, if you
take a look at the numbers,

00:17:02.470 --> 00:17:05.520
we can get 45% of projected
growth from energy efficiency

00:17:05.520 --> 00:17:09.109
alone if we really
get serious about it.

00:17:09.109 --> 00:17:10.819
The forces that are
behind continuing

00:17:10.819 --> 00:17:14.069
to rely on coal, I don't think
are telling us the whole story.

00:17:14.069 --> 00:17:17.499
[PROTESTORS SHOUTING]

00:17:22.890 --> 00:17:26.099
- By all accounts, the coal
industry and coal interests

00:17:26.099 --> 00:17:31.530
have spent upwards of $30 or
$40 million in the past year

00:17:31.530 --> 00:17:36.690
on propaganda to try to promote
the concept of clean coal.

00:17:36.690 --> 00:17:39.600
I think they have seen the
handwriting is on the wall,

00:17:39.600 --> 00:17:41.910
that the United States
is going to have

00:17:41.910 --> 00:17:47.024
to limit their emissions
in one way or another.

00:17:47.024 --> 00:17:49.730
- Technology born from
American ingenuity

00:17:49.730 --> 00:17:52.280
can achieve amazing things.

00:17:52.280 --> 00:17:54.800
- There's a big push right
now by the coal industry

00:17:54.800 --> 00:17:57.980
to tell us that technology
can fix all of the problems

00:17:57.980 --> 00:17:58.550
with coal.

00:17:58.550 --> 00:18:01.790
- We're committed to a future
in which our most abundant fuel,

00:18:01.790 --> 00:18:05.690
coal, generates our electricity
with even lower emissions.

00:18:05.690 --> 00:18:08.120
- And the reason it works
is because most Americans

00:18:08.120 --> 00:18:11.780
have no idea where
their energy comes from.

00:18:11.780 --> 00:18:13.840
In fact, half of our
electricity comes

00:18:13.840 --> 00:18:17.440
from some 600 coal-fired
power plants in the US.

00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:21.490
There are more than
7,000 worldwide.

00:18:21.490 --> 00:18:24.880
Coal accounts for more than
40% of the human-caused carbon

00:18:24.880 --> 00:18:26.380
dioxide emissions globally.

00:18:29.280 --> 00:18:32.730
So clean coal is sort of
like healthy cigarettes

00:18:32.730 --> 00:18:36.510
or limited nuclear war
or fat-free donuts.

00:18:36.510 --> 00:18:39.540
It's one of the great
oxymorons of our time.

00:18:39.540 --> 00:18:41.640
It is not a thing.

00:18:41.640 --> 00:18:43.830
It is an advertising
slogan, and it's

00:18:43.830 --> 00:18:46.260
being pushed on us
right now in order

00:18:46.260 --> 00:18:49.920
to make us feel better
about burning coal

00:18:49.920 --> 00:18:53.070
and to convince us that we
need to burn coal in order

00:18:53.070 --> 00:18:55.740
to keep our plasma
screens lit up

00:18:55.740 --> 00:18:58.350
and our internet
connections going and all

00:18:58.350 --> 00:19:00.930
of this wonderful modern
life that we have,

00:19:00.930 --> 00:19:03.240
that we can do this
in a pain-free way,

00:19:03.240 --> 00:19:05.500
and that we don't
have to change.

00:19:05.500 --> 00:19:09.870
It's a kind of diet pill
for our energy problems.

00:19:13.750 --> 00:19:16.580
- (SINGING) You load 16 tons--

00:19:16.580 --> 00:19:20.270
- Imagine if a 250-year supply
of energy were right here

00:19:20.270 --> 00:19:21.670
at home.

00:19:21.670 --> 00:19:24.140
Now, thanks to
emissions-reducing technology

00:19:24.140 --> 00:19:27.230
from GE Energy, harnessing
the power of coal

00:19:27.230 --> 00:19:29.420
is looking more
beautiful every day.

00:19:35.032 --> 00:19:37.240
- So all this money that's
going to the coal industry

00:19:37.240 --> 00:19:42.430
now is all about only one
thing, and that is making coal

00:19:42.430 --> 00:19:46.210
a viable fuel in a world that
takes global warming seriously.

00:19:49.210 --> 00:19:52.710
[GENTLE ELECTRONIC MUSIC]

00:19:59.210 --> 00:20:02.180
- This isn't a great bike
for speed bumps, honestly.

00:20:02.180 --> 00:20:04.760
- If anyone knows what real
clean coal technology might

00:20:04.760 --> 00:20:07.520
look like, it would
be Dr. Julio Friedmann

00:20:07.520 --> 00:20:10.517
of the government's Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory.

00:20:10.517 --> 00:20:12.100
- The bike's good
for a lot of things,

00:20:12.100 --> 00:20:14.450
but bumps aren't one of them.

00:20:14.450 --> 00:20:18.560
Every year, people on the planet
put 32 billion tons of carbon

00:20:18.560 --> 00:20:20.540
dioxide in the atmosphere.

00:20:20.540 --> 00:20:24.680
That's about 70 times the mass
of all the people on Earth.

00:20:24.680 --> 00:20:27.140
Every year, we put
that in the atmosphere.

00:20:27.140 --> 00:20:31.760
Half of that goes into the
ocean and makes it acidic.

00:20:31.760 --> 00:20:37.260
The ecosystem of the
planet is in dire jeopardy.

00:20:37.260 --> 00:20:39.840
At the rate of
ocean acidification,

00:20:39.840 --> 00:20:43.710
there is a very real
chance that we're

00:20:43.710 --> 00:20:46.260
going to crash the
bottom of the food chain

00:20:46.260 --> 00:20:50.470
in less than 30 years, and
then that's just game over.

00:20:50.470 --> 00:20:55.080
There's serious risk for all
the coral reefs, which hold

00:20:55.080 --> 00:20:56.340
half the species in the ocean.

00:20:59.430 --> 00:21:02.700
And the biggest
single emission source

00:21:02.700 --> 00:21:05.244
is coal-fire power plants.

00:21:05.244 --> 00:21:08.220
- Well, Julio Friedmann is
a really brilliant scientist

00:21:08.220 --> 00:21:09.870
and one of the few
people out there

00:21:09.870 --> 00:21:11.820
who really understands
the real scope

00:21:11.820 --> 00:21:15.690
and scale of the challenge that
we face, both on global warming

00:21:15.690 --> 00:21:22.660
and on retrofitting our energy
system to deal with this.

00:21:22.660 --> 00:21:26.620
- You might ask, actually, why
is a nuclear weapons laboratory

00:21:26.620 --> 00:21:29.350
engaged in carbon management?

00:21:29.350 --> 00:21:32.040
The reason why is basically it's
an issue of national security,

00:21:32.040 --> 00:21:33.220
actually.

00:21:33.220 --> 00:21:36.730
We have to get carbon
dioxide emissions down.

00:21:36.730 --> 00:21:38.440
It's a global
challenge, and it's

00:21:38.440 --> 00:21:41.190
one that's worthy of
a National Laboratory.

00:21:41.190 --> 00:21:44.370
So as an example of the
contribution of coal

00:21:44.370 --> 00:21:47.850
to our society, the camera
that's shooting this

00:21:47.850 --> 00:21:50.610
is made entirely out of rocks.

00:21:50.610 --> 00:21:52.830
The metal was
slagged, the plastic

00:21:52.830 --> 00:21:54.433
was fabricated from petroleum.

00:21:54.433 --> 00:21:56.100
I mean, the whole
thing came from rocks,

00:21:56.100 --> 00:21:58.580
and it was built in a plant
that was run with coal power.

00:21:58.580 --> 00:22:00.330
The heat that went
into making this camera

00:22:00.330 --> 00:22:02.460
was almost entirely
coal-powered.

00:22:02.460 --> 00:22:05.490
And that's what our
world is built out of.

00:22:05.490 --> 00:22:07.320
On some freakish
way, that's sort

00:22:07.320 --> 00:22:10.303
of how it all comes together.

00:22:10.303 --> 00:22:11.970
There's only a handful
of things that we

00:22:11.970 --> 00:22:14.430
can do to reduce emissions
into the atmosphere.

00:22:14.430 --> 00:22:16.350
We have energy efficiency
and conservation.

00:22:16.350 --> 00:22:18.100
We can reduce our output.

00:22:18.100 --> 00:22:20.910
We can go after
non-carbon-emitting sources.

00:22:20.910 --> 00:22:23.780
We can have renewables and
nuclear and geothermal,

00:22:23.780 --> 00:22:24.750
whatever.

00:22:24.750 --> 00:22:27.240
The other thing we can do is
we can keep using fossil fuels

00:22:27.240 --> 00:22:29.440
and deal with the waste.

00:22:29.440 --> 00:22:33.450
We can take care of that CO2 and
put it deep underground where

00:22:33.450 --> 00:22:35.580
it's out of the atmosphere.

00:22:35.580 --> 00:22:38.100
- Friedman is one of the
world's leading authorities

00:22:38.100 --> 00:22:42.060
in a technology called carbon
capture and sequestration,

00:22:42.060 --> 00:22:44.730
sometimes known as CCS.

00:22:44.730 --> 00:22:48.990
- Here, we see CO2 flowing into
a fracture that's previously

00:22:48.990 --> 00:22:52.400
filled with water, which is
a very complex geometry that

00:22:52.400 --> 00:22:52.900
occurs.

00:23:02.285 --> 00:23:05.240
You concentrate the
CO2, the high purity,

00:23:05.240 --> 00:23:09.680
and you stuff it into deep
geological formations.

00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:12.020
The Earth's crust is
well-configured to do this.

00:23:12.020 --> 00:23:13.700
There are multiple
trapping mechanisms

00:23:13.700 --> 00:23:15.830
that keep the CO2
deep underground,

00:23:15.830 --> 00:23:18.365
and we have
technology to do this.

00:23:18.365 --> 00:23:20.240
We've been injecting
CO2 in the Earth's crust

00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:22.700
for 40 years for
enhanced oil recovery.

00:23:22.700 --> 00:23:24.770
We've been doing it
a couple of places

00:23:24.770 --> 00:23:26.150
for sequestration for a decade.

00:23:28.750 --> 00:23:31.830
- So why even bother to
try to make coal clean,

00:23:31.830 --> 00:23:35.460
especially if there are
other energy sources?

00:23:35.460 --> 00:23:39.530
Mainly because coal is
considered cheap and plentiful.

00:23:39.530 --> 00:23:43.240
It's especially abundant in
the US, Russia, and in China.

00:23:46.910 --> 00:23:49.057
In China, they burn more
coal than anywhere else

00:23:49.057 --> 00:23:49.640
on the planet.

00:23:52.660 --> 00:23:54.340
Here, it's becoming
clear that coal

00:23:54.340 --> 00:23:57.530
is only cheap if you don't take
into account its hidden costs.

00:24:01.179 --> 00:24:03.850
- It's booming
everywhere in China.

00:24:03.850 --> 00:24:06.340
I mean, there's certain villages
that are just disappearing

00:24:06.340 --> 00:24:08.350
as people move to the cities.

00:24:08.350 --> 00:24:12.340
I think that by 2015,
China is planning

00:24:12.340 --> 00:24:17.310
to move about 300 million people
from rural areas to cities.

00:24:17.310 --> 00:24:19.900
I mean, that's basically
the entire population

00:24:19.900 --> 00:24:22.315
of the United States.

00:24:22.315 --> 00:24:25.966
It's the biggest migration
in human history.

00:24:25.966 --> 00:24:29.382
[TRAFFIC NOISES]

00:24:38.680 --> 00:24:40.390
- The Chinese
government understands

00:24:40.390 --> 00:24:45.830
that China is faced with a
huge environment challenge.

00:24:45.830 --> 00:24:48.370
The environmental
problems in China

00:24:48.370 --> 00:24:50.680
are already starting
to eat up a lot

00:24:50.680 --> 00:24:54.280
of the economic achievements
we've made in the past.

00:24:54.280 --> 00:24:57.385
And also, it is causing social
instabilities in some areas.

00:24:59.990 --> 00:25:03.550
The more the Chinese economy
grows, the more coal we burn.

00:25:03.550 --> 00:25:06.475
China has a lot of coal,
enough to supply the country

00:25:06.475 --> 00:25:07.690
for decades to come.

00:25:10.460 --> 00:25:13.690
However, is coal really cheap?

00:25:13.690 --> 00:25:18.280
If we look at the environmental
damage, coal-burning costs,

00:25:18.280 --> 00:25:22.510
to the local environment and
to the transportation system

00:25:22.510 --> 00:25:25.450
and also to the human health,
it's not at all cheap.

00:25:30.200 --> 00:25:33.470
The problem now is that
a lot of these costs,

00:25:33.470 --> 00:25:35.990
what we call external
costs, are not

00:25:35.990 --> 00:25:39.930
in any way reflected in the
current pricing of coal.

00:25:39.930 --> 00:25:43.360
[FOLK MUSIC]

00:25:51.200 --> 00:25:54.630
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

00:26:03.980 --> 00:26:06.350
- Researchers are getting
better at using science

00:26:06.350 --> 00:26:09.260
to measure the
true costs of coal.

00:26:09.260 --> 00:26:12.020
Doctors Frederica
Perera, Deliang Tang,

00:26:12.020 --> 00:26:15.290
and their colleagues at the
Chongqing Children's Hospital

00:26:15.290 --> 00:26:17.930
have been able to measure
the direct toxicity of coal

00:26:17.930 --> 00:26:20.630
pollution in a unique
study conducted

00:26:20.630 --> 00:26:21.950
in the city of Tongliang.

00:26:24.700 --> 00:26:28.480
- The city itself has a
population of over 800,000

00:26:28.480 --> 00:26:32.080
people, and in the
middle of the city,

00:26:32.080 --> 00:26:36.250
a coal-burning power plant had
been built right in the city

00:26:36.250 --> 00:26:37.300
center.

00:26:37.300 --> 00:26:40.340
Dr. Tang directed the
international collaboration.

00:26:40.340 --> 00:26:42.820
- You know, the Chinese
usually line up their clothes

00:26:42.820 --> 00:26:46.250
outside a window,
using the sun to dry.

00:26:46.250 --> 00:26:50.860
But locals Tongliang cannot do
that because that power plant

00:26:50.860 --> 00:26:54.880
emits about 40 tons
of ash every day.

00:26:58.050 --> 00:27:00.640
- What Dr. Perera and
Dr. Tang were measuring

00:27:00.640 --> 00:27:03.760
was infant's exposure to
specific toxic compounds called

00:27:03.760 --> 00:27:04.260
PAHs.

00:27:06.950 --> 00:27:11.830
- Polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons, abbreviated PAHs,

00:27:11.830 --> 00:27:15.470
are very common pollutants
in the air from combustion

00:27:15.470 --> 00:27:19.010
of fossil fuel and
other organic material.

00:27:19.010 --> 00:27:22.520
They are mutagenic,
carcinogenic,

00:27:22.520 --> 00:27:27.760
and we've shown that they are
also developmentally toxic.

00:27:27.760 --> 00:27:31.630
- High levels of PAHs were found
in the umbilical cord blood

00:27:31.630 --> 00:27:33.160
of newborns from Tongliang.

00:27:36.470 --> 00:27:38.810
- When we tested
children at age two,

00:27:38.810 --> 00:27:40.700
they did not score
as well as children

00:27:40.700 --> 00:27:43.348
who had had low exposure
to this chemical,

00:27:43.348 --> 00:27:44.765
as we measured it
with the marker.

00:27:47.670 --> 00:27:51.710
- What's the consequence
of the high exposure?

00:27:51.710 --> 00:27:56.500
It will result in
a smaller head.

00:27:56.500 --> 00:27:58.750
The differences are significant.

00:27:58.750 --> 00:28:01.390
That's what we're seeing here.

00:28:01.390 --> 00:28:06.830
The head circumference is the
indirect measure for your brain

00:28:06.830 --> 00:28:10.270
development and also
has long-term impact

00:28:10.270 --> 00:28:13.570
towards your learning
abilities and so on and so on.

00:28:19.810 --> 00:28:26.300
- In May 2004, Tongliang's
aging coal plant was demolished.

00:28:26.300 --> 00:28:28.850
After the coal plant
was gone, a second group

00:28:28.850 --> 00:28:31.150
of pregnant mothers
were added to the study,

00:28:31.150 --> 00:28:34.820
and two years later, a third.

00:28:34.820 --> 00:28:37.910
- So it's a health and
environmental lifestyle

00:28:37.910 --> 00:28:41.780
questionnaire that
we give each time.

00:28:41.780 --> 00:28:44.060
[SPEAKING CHINESE]

00:28:44.060 --> 00:28:45.980
And then you saw a
child being tested

00:28:45.980 --> 00:28:51.380
using a standardized method that
is widely used internationally,

00:28:51.380 --> 00:28:57.020
and that scale gives a measure
of IQ in different domains,

00:28:57.020 --> 00:29:00.080
as well as total IQ.

00:29:00.080 --> 00:29:02.090
- Without the coal
plant's pollution,

00:29:02.090 --> 00:29:04.070
these children were
progressively healthier

00:29:04.070 --> 00:29:05.640
by all measures.

00:29:05.640 --> 00:29:10.600
[SPEAKING CHINESE]

00:29:10.600 --> 00:29:11.100
- Wow.

00:29:11.100 --> 00:29:12.848
You want to be a scientist!

00:29:12.848 --> 00:29:15.800
- Ah, good!

00:29:15.800 --> 00:29:19.880
- We now know that the very
young, the developing fetus,

00:29:19.880 --> 00:29:22.940
and the young child
are most susceptible

00:29:22.940 --> 00:29:27.350
to the toxic effects of air
pollution from coal burning.

00:29:27.350 --> 00:29:31.550
Since the fetus and young child
are developing so rapidly,

00:29:31.550 --> 00:29:35.930
immune systems are not as
mature as they are in the adult.

00:29:35.930 --> 00:29:39.770
- Before this
study, I don't think

00:29:39.770 --> 00:29:44.810
anyone knew just how
much health of a child

00:29:44.810 --> 00:29:49.100
could be impacted at birth
from the mother's exposure

00:29:49.100 --> 00:29:51.210
to fossil fuel burning.

00:29:51.210 --> 00:29:54.170
And the study also
shows higher risk

00:29:54.170 --> 00:29:58.700
of cancer, DNA damage, and
higher risk of cancer at birth.

00:29:58.700 --> 00:30:01.430
To me, this is a
wake-up call for anyone

00:30:01.430 --> 00:30:06.140
in the world who is considering
using coal, building

00:30:06.140 --> 00:30:09.680
a coal-fire power plant, or who
lives near a coal-fire power

00:30:09.680 --> 00:30:13.037
plant and wants to know what
the impacts are on themselves

00:30:13.037 --> 00:30:13.745
and their family.

00:30:16.982 --> 00:30:20.391
[AMBIENT MUSIC]

00:30:27.230 --> 00:30:28.880
- Coal is a very dirty business.

00:30:28.880 --> 00:30:31.500
You've seen the
mountaintop removal.

00:30:31.500 --> 00:30:34.400
There are a lot of other
pollutants that get emitted.

00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:37.880
Now, it is certainly true that
some of the advanced carbon

00:30:37.880 --> 00:30:39.560
capture and storage
technologies would

00:30:39.560 --> 00:30:41.690
get most of those pollutants.

00:30:41.690 --> 00:30:44.420
The question is, what's
the relative price

00:30:44.420 --> 00:30:46.220
and practicality?

00:30:46.220 --> 00:30:48.470
- Joe Romm was Assistant
Secretary of Energy

00:30:48.470 --> 00:30:50.720
in the Clinton
administration and is now

00:30:50.720 --> 00:30:52.970
one of the toughest and
smartest commentators

00:30:52.970 --> 00:30:55.560
on America's energy issues.

00:30:55.560 --> 00:30:59.160
- Since coal with carbon capture
and storage isn't commercial,

00:30:59.160 --> 00:31:01.350
no one can tell you
what the price will be.

00:31:01.350 --> 00:31:05.840
The analysis that I've seen
of what the price would be

00:31:05.840 --> 00:31:08.730
is quite expensive.

00:31:08.730 --> 00:31:13.290
So until there is a high
price for carbon dioxide,

00:31:13.290 --> 00:31:15.480
no one is going to be
interested in it at all

00:31:15.480 --> 00:31:17.546
from a commercial perspective.

00:31:21.830 --> 00:31:26.830
- So where are we at with carbon
capture and sequestration?

00:31:26.830 --> 00:31:28.810
We've passed the laugh test.

00:31:28.810 --> 00:31:31.690
We know that the
technology could work.

00:31:31.690 --> 00:31:34.000
We just haven't
quite done it yet.

00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:37.450
We haven't built the
first integrated plant

00:31:37.450 --> 00:31:40.430
and demonstrated
that it can be done.

00:31:40.430 --> 00:31:42.940
And I just eagerly
await the day.

00:31:42.940 --> 00:31:45.520
- We still don't know what the
hell to do with nuclear waste,

00:31:45.520 --> 00:31:48.050
and how long has that
industry been around for?

00:31:48.050 --> 00:31:51.640
I mean, I think that's
actually an excellent analogy.

00:31:51.640 --> 00:31:53.980
- I think people
are very unaware.

00:31:53.980 --> 00:31:58.000
Underneath is a shiny
idea of clean coal

00:31:58.000 --> 00:32:00.520
is a proposal to
essentially bury

00:32:00.520 --> 00:32:05.620
carbon dioxide underneath the
ground all over North America.

00:32:05.620 --> 00:32:08.468
And I think if people were
aware of the scale at which this

00:32:08.468 --> 00:32:10.885
is being proposed, there would
be a whole lot more concern

00:32:10.885 --> 00:32:13.180
than there is right now.

00:32:13.180 --> 00:32:15.820
- In other words, for carbon
capture and storage to work,

00:32:15.820 --> 00:32:17.195
we're going to
have to figure out

00:32:17.195 --> 00:32:20.620
a way to capture the CO2
that's coming out of the stack,

00:32:20.620 --> 00:32:24.010
compress it, bury it
underground, and do this

00:32:24.010 --> 00:32:26.080
on every plant in the world.

00:32:26.080 --> 00:32:28.900
It's an enormous project, an
enormous engineering project.

00:32:28.900 --> 00:32:30.650
I like to think of it
something on a scale

00:32:30.650 --> 00:32:32.890
of putting a manned
mission on Mars, just

00:32:32.890 --> 00:32:35.710
in the amount of money and just
sheer engineering willpower

00:32:35.710 --> 00:32:36.840
that it will take.

00:32:36.840 --> 00:32:39.220
And a big problem is that
a lot of places like this

00:32:39.220 --> 00:32:40.940
don't have the right
geology to do this.

00:32:40.940 --> 00:32:42.993
So in order to bury
the CO2, they're

00:32:42.993 --> 00:32:44.410
going to have to
pump it sometimes

00:32:44.410 --> 00:32:46.602
hundreds of miles to somewhere
that's more suitable.

00:32:49.013 --> 00:32:50.930
- There would be pipelines
across the country.

00:32:50.930 --> 00:32:52.920
We'd have large
compressing stations.

00:32:52.920 --> 00:32:55.860
We would have CO2 farms in part
of the world where there was

00:32:55.860 --> 00:32:59.520
large resource to sequester--
maybe in Montana and Illinois

00:32:59.520 --> 00:33:01.800
and Wyoming and Texas--

00:33:01.800 --> 00:33:07.610
and we would be injecting
CO2 for 30, 40, 50, 60 years.

00:33:07.610 --> 00:33:09.900
But we can think
about something which

00:33:09.900 --> 00:33:11.328
is twice as big
as the oil economy

00:33:11.328 --> 00:33:13.120
because we've already
built an oil economy.

00:33:13.120 --> 00:33:14.620
We've got the
technology to do that.

00:33:14.620 --> 00:33:15.930
We know what it costs.

00:33:15.930 --> 00:33:17.503
We need to do these things.

00:33:17.503 --> 00:33:19.170
And the same way that
we spent the money

00:33:19.170 --> 00:33:20.670
to build the oil and
gas infrastructure,

00:33:20.670 --> 00:33:22.962
we can spend the money to
build the CO2 infrastructure.

00:33:22.962 --> 00:33:26.610
We just have to decide that
climate problem is that urgent.

00:33:26.610 --> 00:33:31.860
- Our argument is stop
increasing the burning of coal.

00:33:31.860 --> 00:33:33.030
Now.

00:33:33.030 --> 00:33:34.080
Period.

00:33:34.080 --> 00:33:38.242
There is no excuse to continue
growing our dependence on coal.

00:33:38.242 --> 00:33:39.450
We need to move away from it.

00:33:39.450 --> 00:33:45.530
With CCS, try and
make it happen.

00:33:45.530 --> 00:33:48.290
Try and make it
happen in a way that's

00:33:48.290 --> 00:33:52.370
totally safe and economically
viable without depending

00:33:52.370 --> 00:33:57.370
on a massive payout
from taxpayers' money.

00:33:57.370 --> 00:33:58.870
And let's see what
you come up with.

00:34:01.440 --> 00:34:05.100
- If it's a success, it could be
a bonanza for the coal industry

00:34:05.100 --> 00:34:07.110
because we would
actually have to use

00:34:07.110 --> 00:34:11.130
more coal to power the
machinery to suck the junk out

00:34:11.130 --> 00:34:12.170
of the coal.

00:34:12.170 --> 00:34:15.670
[DRAMATIC PERCUSSIVE MUSIC]

00:34:24.435 --> 00:34:25.810
- It's one of the
reasons they're

00:34:25.810 --> 00:34:29.170
trying to get massive federal
subsidies to underwrite

00:34:29.170 --> 00:34:33.280
the research and development
of this technology.

00:34:33.280 --> 00:34:36.219
- While coal state legislators
held up President Obama's

00:34:36.219 --> 00:34:39.880
stimulus package to extract
funding for clean coal,

00:34:39.880 --> 00:34:41.889
small local entrepreneurs
were already

00:34:41.889 --> 00:34:43.600
showing there was
money to be made

00:34:43.600 --> 00:34:46.989
and carbon to be saved by
pursuing alternative energy

00:34:46.989 --> 00:34:51.055
options, sometimes
in unexpected places.

00:34:51.055 --> 00:34:54.450
[FOLK MUSIC]

00:35:06.110 --> 00:35:08.430
- Or if I got a whole ridge.

00:35:08.430 --> 00:35:11.060
Now, you may not know
this, but if you go down

00:35:11.060 --> 00:35:14.940
this high spot right here
towards those cattle,

00:35:14.940 --> 00:35:18.770
there is a new gate just over
the hill there in the open

00:35:18.770 --> 00:35:20.130
in the middle of that stretch.

00:35:20.130 --> 00:35:21.880
- But they're both
right south of us here,

00:35:21.880 --> 00:35:23.830
just maybe a half mile
apart or something.

00:35:23.830 --> 00:35:26.510
- Right.

00:35:26.510 --> 00:35:30.560
- My neighbor's cattle and
my cattle got mixed up,

00:35:30.560 --> 00:35:33.170
and the two parties
have agreed to meet

00:35:33.170 --> 00:35:37.700
today and sort out the mess.

00:35:37.700 --> 00:35:39.680
My name's Pete Ferrell.

00:35:39.680 --> 00:35:41.300
I'm a fourth generation
cattle rancher

00:35:41.300 --> 00:35:44.150
in the Flint Hills of Kansas.

00:35:44.150 --> 00:35:51.770
My family's been here for
120 years, since 1888.

00:35:51.770 --> 00:35:54.230
The truth of the
matter is, there's not

00:35:54.230 --> 00:35:55.993
a lot of money in cattle.

00:35:55.993 --> 00:35:57.410
There's always
money in people who

00:35:57.410 --> 00:35:59.327
think there's money in
cattle, but there's not

00:35:59.327 --> 00:36:02.120
a lot of money in cattle.

00:36:02.120 --> 00:36:06.180
One of my philosophies
is success is survival.

00:36:06.180 --> 00:36:08.203
Let's just figure
out how to stay here.

00:36:08.203 --> 00:36:09.620
And that's what
I've always wanted

00:36:09.620 --> 00:36:13.018
is, how do I stay here
and have a decent living?

00:36:13.018 --> 00:36:16.490
[AMBIENT MUSIC]

00:36:23.930 --> 00:36:28.220
For 120 years, we've survived
on sunlight, soil, grass,

00:36:28.220 --> 00:36:33.390
and water, using livestock
as our harvesting tool.

00:36:33.390 --> 00:36:38.160
When I realized that I had
the potential of adding

00:36:38.160 --> 00:36:41.910
a fifth component to that
other sustainable set,

00:36:41.910 --> 00:36:43.550
it didn't take me
long to recognize

00:36:43.550 --> 00:36:44.550
the value of wind power.

00:36:51.700 --> 00:36:55.420
- With 100 wind turbines split
between Pete's 7,000-acre ranch

00:36:55.420 --> 00:36:59.770
and his neighbors, the Elk
River Wind Project generates 150

00:36:59.770 --> 00:37:03.220
megawatts of electricity,
about a quarter of the amount

00:37:03.220 --> 00:37:06.040
produced by the
typical coal plant,

00:37:06.040 --> 00:37:09.248
but with no pollution or impact
on the grazing land beneath

00:37:09.248 --> 00:37:09.790
the turbines.

00:37:12.788 --> 00:37:13.580
- Oh, look at this.

00:37:13.580 --> 00:37:14.540
You can hear them.

00:37:14.540 --> 00:37:17.840
- Yeah, we can hear
the whoosh here.

00:37:17.840 --> 00:37:21.230
This is nearly a perfect
geographic location

00:37:21.230 --> 00:37:24.900
for a wind farm, just
because of the way it is.

00:37:24.900 --> 00:37:27.580
- Now, how long have you
had these up and going now

00:37:27.580 --> 00:37:28.930
on the farm?

00:37:28.930 --> 00:37:34.560
- The park will be in service
now three years this fall.

00:37:34.560 --> 00:37:36.950
- And how much power
is generated here?

00:37:36.950 --> 00:37:43.370
- Each turbine powers an average
of 420 residential homes.

00:37:43.370 --> 00:37:53.585
If you add them all together,
it'll service 42,000 homes.

00:37:53.585 --> 00:37:54.460
Now, there's a trick.

00:37:54.460 --> 00:37:55.140
Let me show you.

00:37:55.140 --> 00:37:55.750
Let me show you.

00:37:55.750 --> 00:37:56.333
Are you ready?

00:37:56.333 --> 00:38:00.490
- I think actually why Pete
is so important and what

00:38:00.490 --> 00:38:02.890
he's doing here is so important
is because he really is

00:38:02.890 --> 00:38:05.620
an embodiment of the
kind of bottom-up,

00:38:05.620 --> 00:38:07.870
take control of
your own destiny,

00:38:07.870 --> 00:38:09.890
solve this problem for yourself.

00:38:09.890 --> 00:38:12.940
And the reason why I think
politicians in the community

00:38:12.940 --> 00:38:17.380
other places resisted this is
that you're a kind of nightmare

00:38:17.380 --> 00:38:18.388
to them, in a way.

00:38:18.388 --> 00:38:19.930
- They don't know
what to do with me.

00:38:19.930 --> 00:38:23.650
- And you are busting
up the central control

00:38:23.650 --> 00:38:27.280
that our electricity system
has grown up around over--

00:38:27.280 --> 00:38:28.280
- It's very centralized.

00:38:28.280 --> 00:38:31.900
- It's centralized politically,
in the sense that it is

00:38:31.900 --> 00:38:39.490
controlled by groups of
industry-- railroads, coal,

00:38:39.490 --> 00:38:40.270
power burners--

00:38:40.270 --> 00:38:41.260
- Utilities.

00:38:41.260 --> 00:38:43.390
- Right, and who are very
politically connected,

00:38:43.390 --> 00:38:46.660
who have built these political
connections for years and years

00:38:46.660 --> 00:38:47.590
and years.

00:38:47.590 --> 00:38:51.620
And along come people like you
who bust this whole thing up.

00:38:51.620 --> 00:38:53.740
And I think that there's
a huge opportunity here.

00:38:53.740 --> 00:38:57.230
I mean, I don't think
people grasp the scale

00:38:57.230 --> 00:38:58.490
of what we're dealing with.

00:38:58.490 --> 00:39:01.720
We're talking about
rebuilding the entire energy

00:39:01.720 --> 00:39:03.340
infrastructure of the world.

00:39:03.340 --> 00:39:04.090
- That's right.

00:39:04.090 --> 00:39:08.020
- In our lifetimes, or certainly
in our children's lifetimes.

00:39:08.020 --> 00:39:10.370
This is an enormous project.

00:39:10.370 --> 00:39:13.310
[AMBIENT MUSIC]

00:39:22.640 --> 00:39:25.440
- Of course, I think
they're beautiful.

00:39:25.440 --> 00:39:29.150
I like what they
represent, as well as

00:39:29.150 --> 00:39:30.620
what they're actually producing.

00:39:30.620 --> 00:39:33.800
They represent a step
away from something

00:39:33.800 --> 00:39:35.550
that's going to run out.

00:39:35.550 --> 00:39:38.810
They represent clean
energy, and we've

00:39:38.810 --> 00:39:42.060
got two statements
about carbon right here.

00:39:42.060 --> 00:39:45.380
We've got a fabulous
prairie that's

00:39:45.380 --> 00:39:47.900
doing its best to pull
carbon out of the atmosphere,

00:39:47.900 --> 00:39:50.045
and then we've got an
energy source there

00:39:50.045 --> 00:39:52.860
that's making a statement about
not putting more carbon back

00:39:52.860 --> 00:39:53.880
in.

00:39:53.880 --> 00:39:56.870
So there is a balancing
act going on here

00:39:56.870 --> 00:40:00.030
that I'm real pleased with.

00:40:00.030 --> 00:40:03.425
[AMBIENT MUSIC]

00:40:13.630 --> 00:40:16.660
- Finding new forms of
energy to replace coal

00:40:16.660 --> 00:40:21.160
is obviously important, but
changing how we use energy

00:40:21.160 --> 00:40:25.330
and being more efficient is
a huge part of the solution,

00:40:25.330 --> 00:40:28.360
and it's not just about
changing light bulbs.

00:40:28.360 --> 00:40:31.660
It's about rethinking our
entire economy, especially

00:40:31.660 --> 00:40:34.390
the whole manufacturing sector.

00:40:34.390 --> 00:40:36.070
We can make our
industries use energy

00:40:36.070 --> 00:40:39.730
more efficiently while
becoming more competitive.

00:40:39.730 --> 00:40:43.186
We can create new jobs while
reducing our carbon footprint.

00:40:47.560 --> 00:40:51.130
This factory's blast furnaces in
the heart of West Virginia coal

00:40:51.130 --> 00:40:54.040
country have been
producing silicon,

00:40:54.040 --> 00:40:57.340
used in everything from breast
implants to computer chips

00:40:57.340 --> 00:41:00.516
and solar panels
for half a century.

00:41:00.516 --> 00:41:04.002
[AMBIENT MUSIC]

00:41:13.480 --> 00:41:17.370
- What you see out
here is melting

00:41:17.370 --> 00:41:24.110
rock, big pieces of quartz,
wood chips, coal, and charcoal

00:41:24.110 --> 00:41:26.540
all mixed and coming in here.

00:41:26.540 --> 00:41:30.930
The electric arc is creating
rather a lot of heat,

00:41:30.930 --> 00:41:33.965
maybe 7,000 degrees.

00:41:33.965 --> 00:41:35.710
It's ridiculously hot out there.

00:41:35.710 --> 00:41:39.060
It's the important part.

00:41:39.060 --> 00:41:41.700
Most refineries throw
a lot of hot gas away.

00:41:41.700 --> 00:41:45.510
Most chemical factories make
hot gas and throw it away.

00:41:45.510 --> 00:41:48.780
If you make glass of any kind--

00:41:48.780 --> 00:41:50.970
glass for plate glass,
for automobiles,

00:41:50.970 --> 00:41:53.700
for drinking glasses, bottles--

00:41:53.700 --> 00:41:54.900
how do you do it?

00:41:54.900 --> 00:41:55.635
You melt sand.

00:41:58.566 --> 00:42:00.540
It takes a lot of heat.

00:42:00.540 --> 00:42:03.170
All that heat gets thrown away.

00:42:03.170 --> 00:42:05.350
It can be recycled
into something else.

00:42:08.760 --> 00:42:11.910
- This father and son team run
a company called Recycled Energy

00:42:11.910 --> 00:42:14.600
Development out of Chicago.

00:42:14.600 --> 00:42:16.710
They've contracted with
Globe Metallurgical

00:42:16.710 --> 00:42:21.060
to boost the factory's
efficiency by at least 30%.

00:42:21.060 --> 00:42:22.950
- I'm Tom Casten.

00:42:22.950 --> 00:42:27.410
I became concerned about
global warming in 1975.

00:42:27.410 --> 00:42:31.170
I'm also concerned that
electricity as is the problem,

00:42:31.170 --> 00:42:32.760
and its efficiency
hasn't improved

00:42:32.760 --> 00:42:34.740
since I was in high school.

00:42:34.740 --> 00:42:38.430
And so I've spent a career
trying to profitably lower

00:42:38.430 --> 00:42:40.650
the emission of
greenhouse gases,

00:42:40.650 --> 00:42:43.200
mainly by recycling
waste heat and turning it

00:42:43.200 --> 00:42:46.470
into electricity.

00:42:46.470 --> 00:42:47.420
- I'm Sean Casten.

00:42:47.420 --> 00:42:49.460
I grew up around this
at the dinner table,

00:42:49.460 --> 00:42:53.527
and one thing led to another,
and we're now working together

00:42:53.527 --> 00:42:55.610
running Recycled Energy
Development with a mission

00:42:55.610 --> 00:42:59.480
to profitably reduce
greenhouse gas emissions.

00:42:59.480 --> 00:43:01.510
- The amount of
waste heat that is

00:43:01.510 --> 00:43:04.420
lost in energy production
in this country

00:43:04.420 --> 00:43:09.402
is equal to all of the energy
Japan uses for every purpose.

00:43:09.402 --> 00:43:11.860
In other words, you could take
all the waste heat used just

00:43:11.860 --> 00:43:15.280
to generate electricity in this
country and run all of Japan.

00:43:15.280 --> 00:43:18.580
So we are the Saudi
Arabia of wasted energy,

00:43:18.580 --> 00:43:20.740
and the opportunity
to capture some

00:43:20.740 --> 00:43:23.260
of that energy, as the
Castens want to do,

00:43:23.260 --> 00:43:25.610
or use it more efficiently--

00:43:25.610 --> 00:43:26.457
that's the future.

00:43:29.260 --> 00:43:32.675
- I cannot believe you used
to shovel this in by hand.

00:43:32.675 --> 00:43:34.060
- A lot lower load.

00:43:34.060 --> 00:43:39.206
They were only probably
running less than 10 megawatts.

00:43:39.206 --> 00:43:45.230
- This plant is a, boy, close
to 50-year-old plant that makes

00:43:45.230 --> 00:43:50.810
silicon out of quartz, and they
inject 120 megawatts of power

00:43:50.810 --> 00:43:56.300
into the rock to separate
the silicon from the oxygen.

00:43:56.300 --> 00:43:58.610
We're going to recover
their waste heat and make 40

00:43:58.610 --> 00:44:00.710
megawatts, a third
of their power,

00:44:00.710 --> 00:44:02.450
recycle it literally
out of thin air,

00:44:02.450 --> 00:44:05.240
hot thin air coming out
of those silicon furnaces,

00:44:05.240 --> 00:44:09.390
and cutting back on their power
consumption and make little

00:44:09.390 --> 00:44:11.390
money while we're at it,
lowering greenhouse gas

00:44:11.390 --> 00:44:13.730
emissions.

00:44:13.730 --> 00:44:16.730
- Right now, this plant
uses miles of pipes

00:44:16.730 --> 00:44:20.050
to cool down the exhaust
from the furnaces.

00:44:20.050 --> 00:44:23.950
The Castens plan, instead,
to attach boilers and use

00:44:23.950 --> 00:44:27.160
that heat to spin turbines
to create electricity

00:44:27.160 --> 00:44:30.930
that the plant itself can use.

00:44:30.930 --> 00:44:35.740
- If we count the recycling
from the waste heat,

00:44:35.740 --> 00:44:39.450
and we also count the
putting small power plants

00:44:39.450 --> 00:44:42.960
next to places that need
heat, like universities

00:44:42.960 --> 00:44:45.930
and medical centers and
hospitals and so forth,

00:44:45.930 --> 00:44:51.210
we can eliminate 20% of
the US CO2 and, we think,

00:44:51.210 --> 00:44:54.990
save about $100 billion a year.

00:44:54.990 --> 00:44:58.530
It would require a capital
investment of about $500

00:44:58.530 --> 00:45:00.990
billion, half a
trillion dollars, which

00:45:00.990 --> 00:45:03.300
would spur a whole industry.

00:45:03.300 --> 00:45:05.290
The interesting thing
about that investment

00:45:05.290 --> 00:45:08.160
is that it has to be done here.

00:45:08.160 --> 00:45:09.990
- We have to solve
the problem of,

00:45:09.990 --> 00:45:14.250
how do we keep
industrial America going?

00:45:14.250 --> 00:45:16.380
How do we keep continue
making steel and things

00:45:16.380 --> 00:45:20.940
like that in a world where we
take global warming seriously?

00:45:20.940 --> 00:45:24.660
So we have to solve this
problem in the Rust Belt,

00:45:24.660 --> 00:45:26.850
and I think the Castens
are pointing out

00:45:26.850 --> 00:45:30.660
a way that fixing this
and being more efficient

00:45:30.660 --> 00:45:33.540
and thinking differently,
creatively about energy

00:45:33.540 --> 00:45:35.760
is not just about solar
panels and windmills.

00:45:35.760 --> 00:45:37.350
It's about making steel.

00:45:37.350 --> 00:45:39.390
It's about thinking
differently about a lot

00:45:39.390 --> 00:45:42.480
of these crucial
industrial processes

00:45:42.480 --> 00:45:45.990
upon which our lives
really do depend.

00:45:45.990 --> 00:45:47.550
- And that's what
this is about--

00:45:47.550 --> 00:45:50.730
pulling silicon production
back from China,

00:45:50.730 --> 00:45:52.770
because we're going
to do it smarter.

00:45:52.770 --> 00:45:55.050
This plant, when
we're done, will

00:45:55.050 --> 00:45:58.560
be the most efficient
silicon-producing plant

00:45:58.560 --> 00:46:01.860
in the world, according
to the outside studies,

00:46:01.860 --> 00:46:05.510
and that's because of
recycling all this heat

00:46:05.510 --> 00:46:06.610
and doing a better job.

00:46:12.010 --> 00:46:16.330
- Today, we're at the National
Clean Energy Summit, which is,

00:46:16.330 --> 00:46:20.230
ironically, I would say, being
held in Las Vegas, the very Las

00:46:20.230 --> 00:46:23.890
Vegas that is full of the
most incredible amounts

00:46:23.890 --> 00:46:26.440
of electricity consumption
that I've personally ever seen

00:46:26.440 --> 00:46:29.920
in any city anywhere in
the middle of a desert

00:46:29.920 --> 00:46:31.850
in the sweltering heat.

00:46:31.850 --> 00:46:34.210
And I'm here today
because I wanted

00:46:34.210 --> 00:46:36.190
to see what this
high-level group of people

00:46:36.190 --> 00:46:39.760
had to say about clean energy
and the transition towards it.

00:46:39.760 --> 00:46:41.860
- With that, let me
turn to long term, which

00:46:41.860 --> 00:46:45.130
is, I think, the more pertinent
framework in terms of thinking

00:46:45.130 --> 00:46:46.240
about energy policy.

00:46:46.240 --> 00:46:49.990
- Robert Rubin, who is on the
executive committee of Citi,

00:46:49.990 --> 00:46:51.805
is here today
speaking, and I wanted

00:46:51.805 --> 00:46:53.680
to make sure that I had
an opportunity to ask

00:46:53.680 --> 00:46:55.143
him a question
because I was quite

00:46:55.143 --> 00:46:56.560
certain he wasn't
going to address

00:46:56.560 --> 00:46:58.330
Citi's investments in coal.

00:46:58.330 --> 00:47:01.720
- I really appreciated your
remarks about the policy needs

00:47:01.720 --> 00:47:03.880
to shift us towards
a renewable future,

00:47:03.880 --> 00:47:07.120
and I'm wondering how you
rectify that need for a really

00:47:07.120 --> 00:47:10.840
dramatic turn in direction with
the fact that Citigroup is,

00:47:10.840 --> 00:47:14.110
in fact, the largest
financier of the coal industry

00:47:14.110 --> 00:47:16.360
and specifically utilities
building coal-fire power

00:47:16.360 --> 00:47:20.140
plants, and in the last six
months alone did 10 deals with

00:47:20.140 --> 00:47:22.060
utilities building
coal-fire power plants,

00:47:22.060 --> 00:47:25.210
none of which will be, as
you said, clean-burning.

00:47:25.210 --> 00:47:28.480
I just wanted you to speak a
little bit to your opinions

00:47:28.480 --> 00:47:30.480
on the role you see
your bank taking.

00:47:30.480 --> 00:47:34.133
- My-- well.

00:47:34.133 --> 00:47:36.550
Let me give you a two-- let
me give you a two-part answer.

00:47:36.550 --> 00:47:38.410
It's a commercial
institution, and it--

00:47:38.410 --> 00:47:40.340
it is, you know,
commercially-oriented.

00:47:40.340 --> 00:47:42.250
And this is-- we've
got to have energy.

00:47:42.250 --> 00:47:45.850
And it doesn't-- and
that's how banks operate.

00:47:45.850 --> 00:47:48.550
- So just a quick follow-up--
can we expect to see a dramatic

00:47:48.550 --> 00:47:52.120
drop-off in Citi's investments
in coal-fire power plants

00:47:52.120 --> 00:47:53.783
in the coming months and years?

00:47:53.783 --> 00:47:54.700
- I wouldn't think so.

00:47:57.468 --> 00:47:59.260
I mean, truthfully, I
can't speak for Citi.

00:47:59.260 --> 00:48:01.310
I have a sort of advisory,
consulting-- well,

00:48:01.310 --> 00:48:02.870
I'm an executive of
the company, but it's--

00:48:02.870 --> 00:48:04.037
I have a very advisory role.

00:48:04.037 --> 00:48:05.820
But if you asked me
to make a prediction--

00:48:05.820 --> 00:48:08.950
a dramatic reduction
in the coming months?

00:48:08.950 --> 00:48:10.930
I wouldn't think so.

00:48:10.930 --> 00:48:12.850
- Rubin has since
left Citigroup,

00:48:12.850 --> 00:48:15.370
but he's the ultimate
insider, and most

00:48:15.370 --> 00:48:18.790
of Obama's economic
advisors are his proteges.

00:48:18.790 --> 00:48:20.350
- It just goes to
show Rubin doesn't

00:48:20.350 --> 00:48:21.910
follow this issue that closely.

00:48:21.910 --> 00:48:24.310
Bank of America, I
believe, just announced,

00:48:24.310 --> 00:48:27.490
they're not going to finance
mountaintop removal anymore.

00:48:27.490 --> 00:48:30.880
The fact is that corporations
live in this world,

00:48:30.880 --> 00:48:34.150
too, as do their employees,
and as do their customers.

00:48:34.150 --> 00:48:41.200
And they really need to
look not just at this

00:48:41.200 --> 00:48:43.540
from a societal point of
view, but at the point of view

00:48:43.540 --> 00:48:45.100
of business risk.

00:48:45.100 --> 00:48:47.270
Coal plants are
really dinosaurs,

00:48:47.270 --> 00:48:51.310
and they aren't
economically viable

00:48:51.310 --> 00:48:54.790
in the full sense of
the word economic.

00:48:54.790 --> 00:48:59.620
I mean, echo comes from home,
and we are destroying our home

00:48:59.620 --> 00:49:01.200
in every respect.

00:49:01.200 --> 00:49:04.700
[AMBIENT MUSIC]

00:49:18.700 --> 00:49:22.700
[GUITAR NOODLING]

00:49:30.700 --> 00:49:32.920
- Meanwhile, China is
building a new coal plant

00:49:32.920 --> 00:49:36.070
nearly every week,
mostly traditional

00:49:36.070 --> 00:49:37.900
pulverized coal
plants that are not

00:49:37.900 --> 00:49:40.660
going to be easy to retrofit
for carbon capture and storage.

00:49:43.180 --> 00:49:44.930
- I don't know how
they're going to do it,

00:49:44.930 --> 00:49:47.360
but what they are doing is
they're investing heavily

00:49:47.360 --> 00:49:48.920
in an innovation economy.

00:49:48.920 --> 00:49:51.317
They're spending money
on real CCS projects.

00:49:51.317 --> 00:49:53.900
They're going to build the first
integrated gassified combined

00:49:53.900 --> 00:49:56.070
cycle plant with
sequestration, Green

00:49:56.070 --> 00:49:58.538
Gen. It's going to come off
the docks before anyone else.

00:49:58.538 --> 00:50:00.080
They're putting
money into pipelines.

00:50:00.080 --> 00:50:01.970
They're putting money
into pilot projects.

00:50:01.970 --> 00:50:04.570
They're putting money into
technology development.

00:50:04.570 --> 00:50:07.040
And it's not just
in sequestration.

00:50:07.040 --> 00:50:09.290
Energy sector-wide, they're
putting a huge amount

00:50:09.290 --> 00:50:10.370
of investment into this--

00:50:10.370 --> 00:50:11.690
many billions of dollars.

00:50:14.310 --> 00:50:16.740
And quite frankly,
they may very well

00:50:16.740 --> 00:50:18.720
be developing the
technologies that

00:50:18.720 --> 00:50:21.830
make sequestration cheap for us,
and they'll be exporting to us.

00:50:26.530 --> 00:50:30.040
- The only thing scarier than
a kind of coal-fired China is

00:50:30.040 --> 00:50:31.450
a solar-powered China.

00:50:31.450 --> 00:50:33.310
Because if there's a
solar-powered China,

00:50:33.310 --> 00:50:35.440
we're doing economically.

00:50:35.440 --> 00:50:39.070
They will own the 21st century.

00:50:39.070 --> 00:50:41.020
And my sense of
China is that there's

00:50:41.020 --> 00:50:43.450
a lot of optimism
about this there.

00:50:43.450 --> 00:50:47.590
And you've heard all the
arguments about America

00:50:47.590 --> 00:50:49.880
being the richest
country in the world,

00:50:49.880 --> 00:50:53.950
that we have the sort
of moral obligation

00:50:53.950 --> 00:50:55.900
to be the leaders on this.

00:50:55.900 --> 00:50:59.065
And China is still bringing
people out of poverty.

00:51:01.660 --> 00:51:05.440
We're burning coal in order
to power our plasma TVs

00:51:05.440 --> 00:51:09.670
and to keep the thermostat
at 65 degrees in Houston.

00:51:09.670 --> 00:51:11.920
They're trashing the
atmosphere in order

00:51:11.920 --> 00:51:13.730
to bring people out of poverty.

00:51:13.730 --> 00:51:16.510
And I think there's a
fundamental difference in that,

00:51:16.510 --> 00:51:20.560
and I think that where this will
play out in the next decade,

00:51:20.560 --> 00:51:23.872
I think, is one of the
big questions of our time.

00:51:23.872 --> 00:51:27.330
[BLUES MUSIC]

00:51:59.500 --> 00:52:03.190
- How this gets
solved is political.

00:52:03.190 --> 00:52:06.040
I mean, we have to make a
decision as a country what

00:52:06.040 --> 00:52:08.170
we want to do.

00:52:08.170 --> 00:52:12.850
We don't have a clear
vision of our energy future.

00:52:12.850 --> 00:52:14.770
It's very clear that
any kind of solution

00:52:14.770 --> 00:52:20.020
requires changing the grid and
building better connections

00:52:20.020 --> 00:52:24.940
from the places where this clean
power is to where it is needed.

00:52:24.940 --> 00:52:28.340
And we're going to do that.

00:52:28.340 --> 00:52:31.730
And we did that with highways.

00:52:31.730 --> 00:52:34.520
We did that with
issues that were

00:52:34.520 --> 00:52:36.915
big enough and important
enough to America

00:52:36.915 --> 00:52:39.724
that they rose to national
agenda to that level.

00:52:48.890 --> 00:52:52.570
So when I think about the scale
of the challenges that we face,

00:52:52.570 --> 00:52:54.610
two things are really
apparent to me.

00:52:54.610 --> 00:52:59.230
One is the amazing amount
of energy and imagination

00:52:59.230 --> 00:53:01.960
that's going into rethinking
energy in America,

00:53:01.960 --> 00:53:04.300
the entrepreneurs that I
know in Silicon Valley who

00:53:04.300 --> 00:53:06.520
are working on
thin-film solar, and

00:53:06.520 --> 00:53:09.340
the giant solar installations
in the desert and wind

00:53:09.340 --> 00:53:13.030
farms and geothermal and
all of these possibilities.

00:53:13.030 --> 00:53:16.090
And that's very
inspiring on one level.

00:53:16.090 --> 00:53:17.530
But on another
level, when you're

00:53:17.530 --> 00:53:19.700
driving through the
desert in Nevada,

00:53:19.700 --> 00:53:21.700
and you come over a
rise, and suddenly

00:53:21.700 --> 00:53:25.340
the lights of Las Vegas
appear before you,

00:53:25.340 --> 00:53:29.740
and you get this sense
of this enormous machine

00:53:29.740 --> 00:53:31.690
that we've created
that is civilization,

00:53:31.690 --> 00:53:35.080
and how much is at stake in
keeping all of those lights on?

00:53:35.080 --> 00:53:37.750
That's when you really
realize the scale and scope

00:53:37.750 --> 00:53:40.050
of the challenge
that we really face

00:53:40.050 --> 00:53:43.120
in reinventing our entire
energy infrastructure

00:53:43.120 --> 00:53:46.120
and thinking differently
about how we use power

00:53:46.120 --> 00:53:47.472
and changing our lives.

00:53:50.448 --> 00:53:53.920
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

00:54:40.550 --> 00:54:43.232
- I could take a
break for a minute.

00:54:43.232 --> 00:54:44.705
- Absolutely.

00:54:50.610 --> 00:54:53.140
- I understand that
Mr. Blankenship doesn't

00:54:53.140 --> 00:54:56.240
want to continue
with the interview,

00:54:56.240 --> 00:54:59.010
so I apologize for
the inconvenience,

00:54:59.010 --> 00:55:01.190
but he just doesn't want
to move forward with it.

00:55:01.190 --> 00:55:02.200
- OK, I understand.

00:55:02.200 --> 00:55:02.700
- All right.

00:55:02.700 --> 00:55:04.600
We'll have some people
help you pack up

00:55:04.600 --> 00:55:06.350
and do whatever you
need to do to get out.

00:55:19.000 --> 00:55:21.460
- Of course, this
was only a beginning

00:55:21.460 --> 00:55:25.940
because with electricity being
used for more things every day,

00:55:25.940 --> 00:55:30.050
there's always something new and
fascinating to learn about it.

00:55:30.050 --> 00:55:33.250
For instance, you might
find it interesting to learn

00:55:33.250 --> 00:55:36.940
how many different ways
electricity has been used

00:55:36.940 --> 00:55:38.800
in making this motion picture.

00:55:41.800 --> 00:55:45.150
[FESTIVE MUSIC]