Of course Joe Romm at Climate Progress spotted this before I did (thanks!) but just take a look at the 12½-minute 60 Minutes segment (which aired in the United States last night but not here) titled ‘The Dilemma Over Coal Generated Power.’ This is 60 Minutes at its rare best. Reporter Scott Pelley does a superb job firstly interviewing Jim Rogers, the outspoken CEO of Duke Energy (the third largest American emitter; it has begun to build two new coal plants despite Rogers’ public profile as climate change advocate for action), then hearing from Jim Hansen, then kyboshing CCS (with help from Romm), finally catching Rogers in a revelation that his CCS plan (over the next four decades, for Pete’s sake!) hasn’t even received any Duke Energy capital investment. Two quotes stand out.
Jim Hansen is spot on, when asked if his coal warning means that no more new coal plants can be built:
Absolutely, not only in this country, but in the world. This is not yet understood. We are going to have to have a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants within the next few years and phase out the existing ones over the next 20 years or so if we have to preserve the climate like the one that has existed the last several thousand years.
And Jim Rogers’ rejoinder:
I say, ‘Mr. Hansen, can’t get done, won’t get done.’