Busting the Abundant Coal Reserves Myth

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The coal industryโ€™s spin doctors have been droning on about the abudance of coal for the last year, but new research by Dave Rutledge, Chair of Caltechโ€™s engineering and Applied Sciences Division, calculates that the worldโ€™s coal reserves may be much less โ€œabundantโ€ than the coal industry would like us toย think:

โ€œThe record of geological estimates made by governments for their fossil fuel estimates is really horrible,โ€ Rutledge said during a press conference at the American Geological Union annual meeting. โ€œAnd the estimates tend to be quite high. They over-predict future coalย production.โ€

The coal lobby states that, โ€œwithin our [US] borders, we have enough coal to last the next 200 years.โ€ But by Rutledgeโ€™s calculations 90% of the entire worldโ€™s estimated coal reserves will have been produced byย 2069.

You can check out a copy of Rutledgeโ€™s powerpoint presentation here (4MB powerpoint file): Rutledge coal and oil reservesย presentation.

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Kevin is a contributor and strategic adviser to DeSmog. He runs the digital marketing agency Spake Media House. Named a โ€œGreen Heroโ€ by Rolling Stone Magazine and one of the โ€œTop 50 Tweetersโ€ on climate change and environment issues, Kevin has appeared in major news media outlets around the world for his work on digital campaigning. Kevin has been involved in the public policy arena in both the United States and Canada for more than a decade. For five years he was the managing editor of DeSmogBlog.com. In this role, Kevinโ€™s research into the โ€œclimate denial industryโ€ and the right-wing think tank networks was featured in news media articles around the world. He is most well known for his ground-breaking research into David and Charles Kochโ€™s massive financial investments in the Republican and tea partyย networks. Kevin is the first person to be designated a โ€œCertified Expertโ€ on theย political and community organizing platformย NationBuilder. Prior to DeSmog, Kevin worked in various political and government roles. He was Senior Advisor to the Minister of State for Multiculturalism and a Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Asia Pacific, Foreign Affairs for the Government of Canada. Kevin also worked in various roles in the British Columbia provincial government in the Office of the Premier and the Ministry of Health. In 2008 Kevin co-founded a groundbreaking new online election tool called Vote for Environment which was later nominated for a World Summit Award in recognition of the worldโ€™s best e-Content and innovative ICTย applications. Kevin moved to Washington, DC in 2010 where he worked for two years as the Director of Online Strategy for Greenpeace USA and has since returned to his hometown of Vancouver, Canada.

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