The Right Guy for the Job or Just the Best One?  Justin Towers

November 4th was probably the wildest Tuesday night at ESF in a long time. Students cheered, music blasted, inebriated hippies streaked down Westcott Street. A good time was had by all the Democratic faithful.

Rather that partying, however, I found myself at Dan Maffei’s election party in Liverpool, watching the giant television intently as battleground after battleground fell to Barack Obama. After eight long years the Bush regime was finally toppled and the environment was safe once more. I couldn’t help but ask myself though: Just how green is Barack Obama? Voting records show that McCain is no match for him in this area, that’s not really debatable. Many environmentalists seem to treat him like he’s the best thing since sliced bread (or at least Theodore Roosevelt). But is Obama really this environmental messiah, or just the lesser of two evils?

Looking at his voting record, Obama’s a tough man to beat. He’s voted pretty consistently in favor of environmentalism throughout his term as a U.S. senator. He did drop the ball on a couple of energy-related bills in 2005, but personally, I’ll cut him some slack. It was two votes on two days, and otherwise, he’s been pretty consistent.

I like giving people the benefit of the doubt when it comes to contradicting themselves on decisions made in the past.  Viewpoints and ideals change over time; you can’t blame him for changing his mind on a decision he made four years ago. However, it’s one of his current positions that I find disconcerting.

Barack Obama has a largely pro-coal record and currently advocates for “clean coal technology.” Clean coal technology is a blanket term for processes designed to reduce   emissions and environmental impacts from the combustion of coal. The term has been in more esoteric use for years, usually referring to less advanced processes for impact reduction. Currently, however, it is popularly used to describe the processes which trap carbon emissions and air pollutants before they’re released into the atmosphere.

On the surface, this seems like a great idea. It would allow us to burn coal, a resource with far more longevity than petroleum, without severely damaging the environment, right? Obama supports subsidies for this technology and its use as a tool to reduce global warming. However, the term clean coal is very misleading. The fact is that coal in and of itself is an environmental nightmare.

An early attempt at clean coal technology was the use of low-sulfur coal, a resource prevalent in Appalachia. There, shaft mining for coal has been on the decline for decades as it’s gradually replaced by surface mining.  Surface mining has met opposition from locals and environmentalists alike since its inception.   Activists have explored every tactic from peaceful protest to domestic terrorism. They were allowed one consolation prize in 1977 with the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, which accomplishes something somewhere between loose regulation and absolutely nothing.

People who think this sounds like another petty environmental qualm probably don’t know what one of the most popular surface mining techniques in the coal-rich Appalachians is. It’s called mountaintop removal mining and it works on the premise that it’s okay to blow 1500 feet off of the top of a mountain and collect the coal beneath. Anything that’s not coal ends up in valley fills, which obstruct stream flow, destroying entire ecosystems. Children and adults alike in neighboring villages end up with respiratory conditions from airborne coal dust. On top of that, valley fills have been known to burst, flooding entire towns in the aftermath.

To me, the moral and environmental implications of coal extraction are mind-boggling. But, overall, I really can’t knock Barack Obama too badly. He’s a busy man, and while controversial, the issue of clean-coal technology probably isn’t something he thinks about every waking moment. In comparison, his election is a step in the right direction for the environment. He’s voted green for the vast majority of his career and his positions reflect that. However, I have to conclude that Barack Obama is more the lesser of two evils than anything else.