As a student at Washington University, I am humiliated and infuriated at my school's involvement in this case. I don't believe for one minute that wash u would oppose a lawsuit against Mr. DeSmet. How can an institution that purports to support critical thinking and truth punish a concerned citizen?

Mr. DeSmet is right on point with his website. The CCCU works as an advertising tool for corporate forces, swathing themselves in "Clean Coal" banners in return for research funding.

I am disappointed in Wash U, but I am not surprised. Mr. DeSmet, there is a community that supports you. Wash U, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Peabody, No one expects any better. You are evil.

"There's no such thing as clean coal," says 40-year-old DeSmet, who works for the non-profit Missouri Coalition for the Environment but set up his site in the Fall of 2009 as a private citizen.

Set up the site as a "private citizen." Yeah right! This guy is a "corporate tool" for the "environmental group" that he works for. Yeah he did it on his own to limit his "non profit's" liability. I have to wade through the irony of Mr. DeSmet accusing others of shilling for big business, when that is exactly what he is doing. Only his Big Business hides behind flowery title of "non profit environmental group." Which translates into Big Business that doesn't pay taxes.

I can smell the hipocrisy from here. I was hoping that the big windmill in front of Alberici Construction would have sucked the stink away from Wash U, but that thing can barely power the lights for their covered parking garage. LOL

I can't believe Peabody Energy is trying to sue someone for telling the truth about their big advertising lie. Burning coal is horrible for our environment and our people. Why continue to research technology that perpetuates the use of this dirty, outdated fuel when we have off-the-shelf technology like wind and solar that would easily provide 100% of our energy needs? And why call it "clean"?

Dayum,

-1- Mr D did not get paid to set up this site, nor does he get paid enough in his job (that is not connected to this) to even remotely compensate for the legal BS he gets to deal with as a result of this on his personal time.

-2- Big Business? WTF are you talking about? I can pretty much guarantee that Peabody's PR department has a budget that dwarfs the entire budget of Mo Coalition for the Env. Even if your conspiracy theory was correct, if Mr D was in it for the money, he'd work for the other guys.

-3- What does Alberici's windmill have to do with anything in this post?

"Clean Coal" is the same BS as "light cigarettes," even if it kills you less, you still wind up dead.

Peabody should spend the money they're using to harass Mr D on researching sustainable energy solutions instead.

>

What are you his friggin' minion shill? What is with the "Mr. D" crap? Seriously, did "Mr. D" put you up to this? Did he promise to show you his "BioMass?"

>

My guess is that "the other guys" don't hire hippies who major'd in "soft sciences" like Environmental Propaganda, or how to get the rest of the world to believe that not competing for global resources will make me look like less of a loser (i.e. Communism). Which pretty much puts "Mr.D" out of the running for any job outside of academia or working for an "Environmental Group."

Man... When you post I picture you speaking in the same voice that Seann William Scott used in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. "Mr. D" Too funny!!!!!

>

I'm not sure....but I'm guessin that what Skippy was getting at is that Wind, Solar, and BioAss combined produce less than 1% of our power RIGHT NOW. So lets all stop using coal, oil, or gas tomorrow. Smart move Adino. Learn that at Wash U? Hope not.

BTW Have you ever seen that windmill in front of Alberici turning? I went down to U city the other night in a friggin blizzard and it was standing still. Good thing nobody needed heat or electricity that night huh?

Clean coal? I dunno. I for one like very low electric bills. Was the sky clouded with smog and haze in St. Louis today (or at all this year?). Well then, if the coal companies wanna make it even cleaner, I say go for it.

Let's remember... It was MORON's like "Dr.D" who SHUT DOWN Nuclear energy in this country 30 year ago. Reap the whirlwind "Mr. D." Reap the whirlwind!

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Haa Haa Haa Right on!!!!!

Greenies shut down Nuclear in the USA back in the 70's. They scared the hell out of Americans, and equated nuclear energy with nucler war. Their answer back then was to build hydro electric dams (which they now want to tear down so that the humpback chub or some other little fish can spawn).

Global Warming. Oh yeah. How do you think all that coal and oil got in the ground? Once, this area was covered by water. Once this area was a tropical swamp. Once this area was covered by ice. The climate has been changing since the beginning of Earth. To think that man releasing CO2 in to the atmoshphere is the real problem on this planet is idiotic.

There are kids in this country without food, and heat. Let's solve that problem first.

Go Huskies!! (oh Sorry... wrong Wash U)

Not much talk about journal articles or otherwise peer-reviewed literature concerning "climate change" or "no climate change". It looks like we just have the normal blatant un-supported commentary sure to inflame the next blogger. Nevertheless, that doesn't seem to matter to most of the folks posting here. What happened to civility, discourse, and logical arguments?

Regardless of your opinion about coal, this seems like more of a free speech issue than anything. "Fraud and Identity Theft" - please...is that really going to hold up in court, given the obvious indication on the website that it's a parody? Or perhaps it not so obvious...

"Fair Use" of copyrighted material is about as complex a legal argument as it gets and this seems like more of a "slap" lawsuit designed to make those that disagree with certain perspectives shut up about it, without actually having a legitimate court case.

I say Onward First Amendment - and if you don't like it, I hear Iran is looking for violent uneducated thugs willing to oppress the masses!

I'm all for free speech. But it looksl ike Mr. DeSmet's site is more like Bait and Switch.

It is more of "Phishing" site than a parody. And if that is a parody I must say that Mr. DeSmet has one dry sense of humor. That is about the lamest site I have ever seen. Absolutely lacking in creativity. The fact that he copied and pasted images from the real site shows that he is a no talent hack. Why not have a little fun and make up your own logos? Too much work apparently.

As for peer reviewed articles, I was in the process of reviewing the "Global Warming" data, when I was informed by The University of East Anglia that all the Raw Climate Data had been intentionally destroyed.

But aren't both "Bait and Switch" and "Phishing" usually punishable by fraud? I'm not so sure this could be portrayed as fraud in court, could it? Doesn't the allegation of fraud imply some sort of gain (e.g. monetary). What's to gain from a parody website besides the dissemination of ideas, regardless of the genre of ideas presented. It seems passive to me, like putting up a sign in your yard (bad example, I know).

I heard of cease and desist orders for websites that were making claims that were flat-out untrue (allegedly - I don't know if they're technically settled - Galveston Independent School District v. Tetley & GTX Global Corp. v. Left), but, as far as I can see, there is nothing false on the website, as it is obviously a parody, at least to me.

While it's certainly a controversial position for some folks, as evidenced by the above posts, it might be a bad idea for Peabody to pursue these allegations against this website in court...That would turn it into a first amendment case, wouldn't it?

The point of the entire story is that sustained and growing use of coal to meet our current energy demands is nothing more then building a "Carbon Debt Bank" for our children and grandchildren to deal with.

This is not a "Left" or "Right" wing issue and cannot be framed as a "Political Issue". This is a "Pollution" issue and we cannot avoid reality that CO2=Pollution. I am all in favor of keeping our utility rates low across the Midwest but lets get our energy portfolio diversified now.

I am also in favor of an energy mix that includes solar, wind, nuclear, natural gas, and coal only as a back-up source for when the "Alberici" turbine is not spinning, the sun is not shining, natural gas is not available, and we have taken every measure to monitor our current power use and have taken every measure possible to be more energy efficient.

But lets get behind clean, renewable energies now and not think that our Children and Great-Grandchildren look back on this generation and these "Archived Forever" blog posts and declare that our political arguments held up any chance of the US competing with China for a Sustainable, Clean Future of Energy.

I know Wash U. has solid interests in researching the potential (if there is even the potential) to execute on the unproven theory of "Clean Coal", but I guess we need to support that they are even trying. The "Head Fake" of Carbon Sequestration or trying to scrub CO2 from hitting our atmosphere just doesn't seem to have legs to meet reality. However, I look forward to reading Wash U's research very soon and seeing where they land in this important time in history. I believe they will report that the US must act on energy efficiency and renewables at this moment, and that coal will have a much limited role in the next decades and century to come. We should be proud to have Wash U in our backyard but lets hope that the fossil fuel lobby and a Million Dollar Grant by these lobbyist don't give the reflection that Wash U supports an Unsustainable view of our future and supporting a healthy ecosystem for future Generations. With that being said, I look forward to reading Wash U's report on their "Clean Coal" findings very very soon. I would hope the students at Wash U. can push the University to also make this data public very soon rather then years from now.

It is also my hope that there is a true price set on Carbon in 2010 and then we will see an unleashing of innovation around Clean, Renewable Energy. The "Old Coal Boys" will be important for a long time but lets put a real price on pollution into the thin atmosphere we call "Home" and unleash an Apollo scale effort on Energy Efficiency and Renewables (Yes, I believe the Midwest can also be a part of this Revolution).

Your Grandkids and Great Grandkids will look back and not give a damn about this recession but will remember that this is the Generation that built the Clean Energy Revolution. Lets make sure Missouri is not left behind as China and the rest of the world races forward on this most important "Mission" of this Generation.

"Following the Light of the Sun, we left the Old World behind." -Christopher Columbus: Italian navigator who discovered the New World in the service of Spain while looking for a route to China (1451-1506)

"Following the Light of the Sun, we left the Old (Peabody Coal) World behind." -Christopher Columbus: Italian navigator who discovered the New World in the service of Spain while looking for a route to China (1451-1506)

A Clarification:

ALgoResEviltWin says: "I'm not sure....but I'm guessin that what Skippy was getting at is that Wind, Solar, and BioAss combined produce less than 1% of our power RIGHT NOW."

From "Renewable Energy Sources Accounts For 13 Percent Of US Electrical Generation"
Linked: http://tr.im/K0oo
"Electrical generation from non-hydro renewable energy sources (i.e., biomass, geothermal, solar, wind) continues its rapid growth according to the latest figures released by the Energy Information Administration in its "Electric Power Monthly" report.
For the 12-month period ending April 30, 2009, non-hydro renewables accounted for 3.18 percent of electrical generation; conventional hydropower accounted for an additional 6.29 percent; combined renewables accounted for 9.47 percent. By comparison, for the 12-month period ending April 30, 2008, the corresponding numbers were 2.69 percent, 5.66 percent, and 8.35 percent."

I may only be studying Chemical Engineering (at Washington University), but I'm pretty sure 3.18% is greater than 1%.

According to a new whitepaper published by Department of Energy and NREL, the State of Missouri currently ranks number 50 out of 50 (Dead Last) for production of Non-Hydro Renewable Energy. This should be a wake up call as the California and the rest of the US and World are staging a Renewable Energy Revolution while Missouri is slashing and burning coal for 90 percent of our energy demand.

http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy10osti/46667.pdf

Air pollution is only one part of the pollution cycle caused by burning coal.

Do a Google Image Search for some of the staggering images of mountaintop removal mining in the Appalachians or strip mining in Wyoming. The destruction is complete, what remains is ecologically devastated. These mines destroy not only the mountains but also the waters flowing out of the mountains and into our lakes, rivers and streams.

On top of that the ash from the coal has to be dealt with and that often means slag ponds full of toxic ash with high levels of dangerous metals. If you want to see what happens when one of these timebomb dumps blows take a look at the "Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill" on Wikipedia.

1.1 billion gallons of coal fly ash slurry 1.7 million cubic yards (1.3 million m³) of sludge
As of June 2009, six months following the spill, only 3% of the spill had been cleaned and is now estimated to cost between $675 and $975 million to clean, according to the TVA.
This was dumped not only into a sensitive and valuable habitat, but a habitat that is also a major drinking water supply.

On top of that add the radiation pouring into your community via the burning of coal.
Look up this article from the Scientific American, 12/13/2007
"Coal Ash Is More Radioactive than Nuclear Waste : By burning away all the pesky carbon and other impurities, coal power plants produce heaps of radiation."

On the other hand there are a wide range of energy generation methods that are less destructive and poisonous than the mining and burning of coal for power. And these technologies already exist! Technologies like the 5MW Biomass Generator in Kirkwood, or the upcoming rate reductions on solar for Missourians through the new PACE legislation. Energy Sources that don't ask us to destroy that upon which we need to live, or at least without the same careless wild abandonment of future generations of life on Earth.

Washington University needs to get with the program and direct their efforts towards the improvement of these existing and underdeveloped technologies instead of wasting time, brainpower, and PR in the deadly black hole that is coal power.

In other news
AND CHECK THIS OUT!
http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/green-slug-is-discovered-to-be-part-animal-part-plant