Tonight in Ballston: NRECA Energy Forum

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) is hosting an "Energy Town Hall Meeting" in Ballston tonight. The press release is pretty clear about the meeting's intentions -- "power" = coal, and we should be burning as much of it as possible for as long as possible:

Recent reports warn that Virginia and Maryland (among other states) are running out of power and may face rolling blackouts as early as 2011. At the same time Congress and the new Administration have vowed to address climate change, which could make it harder to build new power plants. Can technology help get us out of this jam? How? Which technologies should we be funding?

The "recent reports" is actually one report, and it was produced in an attempt to justify Dominion Virginia Power's new $1.4 billion transmission line. And President Obama's climate & energy plans would only make it more expensive to build new fossil fuel-based power plants. NRECA knows President Obama wants to make solar and wind power plentiful and affordable -- a major threat to its coal interests, so they're trying to focus on "technology" -- translation, "clean" coal.

Here are the details on the event:

When: April 16, 2009, 5:00 p.m. – Energy Efficiency Expo, 7:00 p.m. – Energy Town Hall Meeting

Who:
Kojo Nnamdi, WAMU, Moderator
Glenn English, CEO, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association
Manik Roy, VP for Federal Affairs, Pew Center for Climate Change
Brian Castelli, Executive VP for Programs & Development, Alliance to Save Energy
Jay Fisette, Vice-Chairman, Arlington County Board

Where: NRECA Building, 4301 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Virginia

The public is invited to an Arlington Energy Town Hall Meeting to discuss how the nation ensures we have the power we need in the future. WAMU’s Kojo Nnamdi will moderate a panel discussion and public Q&A.

In case you were wondering, the "Alliance to Save Energy" is a virtual who's who of big polluters, from ExxonMobil to Dow Chemicals.