The National Coal Council (NCC) is a federally sanctioned organization comprised of coal industry representatives whose only function is to lobby the Department of Energy (DOE) to increase the use of coal. The NCC is officially described as an advisory committee, but has a remarkable track record. An investigation by Propublica found that 80% of recommendations of the NCC were enacted by the DOE. The cynical of mind might be inclined to characterize the NCC as a convenient conduit to relay the demands of the coal industry to government officials.

Senator Lieberman even requested a formal investigation of the NCC by the Inspector General of the DOE. The official response to Lieberman's request was amusing:

In its response to Lieberman’s request, the DOE’s Office of Inspector General said that the “vast majority of members were involved in coal production, mining, transport, or energy service.” But it also concluded that while the law says that committee membership should be “fairly balanced in terms of points of view represented and the functions to be performed,” the rules do not define what “fairly balanced” requires. “As a result,” wrote the OIG, “there was no precise standard against which to judge whether the composition of the National Coal Council met the Federal Advisory Committee Act’s requirements.”

The Washington University students clearly did their homework on the NCC. They even knew that NCC meetings are listed in the Federal Register.

The action by the students is also significant because of the connection between the university, NCC, and two of the largest coal companies in the United States.

The CEOs of St. Louis-based Peabody Energy and Arch Coal are both on the council and are members of the University’s board of trustees

Peabody Energy is the industry's leading proponent of "clean coal technology" as well as vocal opponent of any regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. Among its more visible actions, Peabody challenged the EPA endangerment ruling on greenhouse gases and heavily promoted the significance of stolen emails as invalidating climate science. Peabody is coal's counterpart to Exxon in trying to discredit climate science to prevent the transition to low carbon energy.

While Peabody is the industry's 800 pound dirty gorilla, Arch Coal is the pit viper whose bite makes politicians go wobbly. Wobbly politicians in Montana were willing to confiscate land, build a railroad, and sell their grandchildren to support Arch Coal's Otter Creek plans. Wobbly politicians in West Virginia have cheered Arch Coal's attempt to flatten the mountaineer state and fill its streams with rock and acid mine drainage. Arch Coal's refusal to reduce valley fills for its proposed Spruce mountaintop removal mine lead to a kerfuffle with the EPA over enforcement of the Clean Water Act.

The dynamic duo of Peabody Energy and Arch Coal have also created a "clean coal" research and marketing center at Washington University, laughably named the International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES). Of course, the joke is on us. What Peabody Energy calls sequestration is a farce as their goal is to sell the pressurized carbon dioxide from coal plants to enhance production from oil wells.

The plants would capture carbon dioxide that can be used to extract even more oil out of once-depleted oil reserves, said Beth Sutton, a Peabody spokeswoman.

The Washington University students spoke truth to power in confronting the NCC and the Arch Coal-Peabody Energy-Washington University axis.

Directly after council members had finished taking roll call on Tuesday, students from Green Action and Missourians Organized for Reform and Empowerment entered the meeting at the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark. The students unfurled a banner proclaiming, “Coal is never clean” and sang, “Clean coal is a dirty lie.” “Clean coal doesn’t exist, and we’re opposed to the lie that there’s any way to use coal safely without hurting communities,” said Green Action member Harry Alper, a senior.



Harry Alper is spending spring break with friends learning more about mountaintop removal mining.

Mountain Justice Spring Break is a week-long action camp to learn about mountaintop removal coal mining, hear from local impacted communities, practice effective methods to confront environmental destruction, build sustainable community, and more. And when we get back to campus, we’ll have the skills and passion to win the coal fight in St. Louis.



Give them hell, Harry.