It seems that the whole nation has been waiting to see what the lawmakers were going to do before they built new generating capacity.  This has resulted in a lot of pent-up demand for power as the utilities project the need for a lot of new power stations in a few years.  Add to that the rapidly growing cost of natural gas, aging older power plants, and ever more stringent environmental laws regarding existing plants, and we are looking at replacing most of our current power generating facilities ina the next decade.

The big questions have been:  "What new environmental laws is going to regulate CO2 emissions?", "Will the cost of natural gas stay high, or is this a temporary spike?", "Will the EPA finally pass some legislation to force older, dirtier power plants into decommissioning?"

Well, it seems we have our answer now.  In the last 6 months there has been a tremendous increase in the interest of utilities to build new coal fired power plants.  And once the herd of utility companies starts moving, it moves in a big way.  In many cases, these new coal fired power plants are meant to replace the brand new natural gas plants that were built just a few years ago when the price of gas was low.  

The scary part of all of this, is that there is no economical way to get rid of the greenhouse gases from this type of coal fired power plant.  And once they are built, the utilities will defend their existence by using the same old "sunk costs" argument that has kept the current older plants operating since the Clean Air Act of 1990 was passed.   It will be decades before these new power plants have been paid for bu generating revenue.  So, if anyone was holding their breath waiting for the government pass legislation regarding coal fired power plant greenhouse gas emissions in response to the gobal warming issue, then give it up.  Industry has moved forward in the absence of government action regarding global warming.  Peak Oil will only exacerbate the situation.