thomas friedman suddenly got a charm for coal. 'green' coal at that and he says if we dont get green coal, we will be wearing biknis and shorts in january in new york and of course dead marine life and rotting corpse in submerged islands all over the world. there is a small but fitting reply to friedman article.

let's put friedman theory to practicality in india. as per the dte article regarding the proposed coal power plant in the eco senstive udupi region in coastal karnataka:
“The plant will not use local river water. A seven-kilometre pipeline will bring Arabian Sea water to the plant; another pipeline will discharge the plant’s hot water into the sea,” he assures. “We will comply with the state government’s emission norms."

the above quotes are from nagarjuna power corporation limited (NPCL) project
director. well we liked his statement although the reality all over india shows otherwise.
but we also like the idea of the protestors in udupi. i quote from article which is as per State Convener of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch B.M. Kumaraswamy, who is involved in the udupi protests:
He said that supporters of the project had said that it would use state-of-the-art technology to reduce pollution and it would not have any harmful effects. Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy too had said that the people had to learn to sacrifice for the sake of development. But if all these arguments were true, then there should be no problem in relocating the plant to a place near Bangalore instead, he said.

exactly. let's point out the following.
1. the coal power plant is super safe as per the project proponents.
2. all environmental safeguards have been taken as per the project proponents.
3. the fly ash, smoke, etc will be carefully handled as per the project
proponents.
4. people have to sacrifice for 'developedment' as per the project proponents

if all above is true, then why can't the power plant be put right outside bangalore. coal can be sourced via railway line to bangalore. the fly ash can be trapped and fed into brick manufacturing the super heated water can be trapped and cooled and supplied to companies and residences in bangalore for their toilet usage, gardening. by this way, those who enjoy the fruits of the coal power plant can also live close to it.

sarcasm apart, only if the coal power plant be located be close to metro areas will the urban elite of those metros know the enormous costs - pollution, degradation of environment, air/water getting screwed up, coal traffic - of bringing electricity.

(dharna by protestors in udupi. picture copyright hindu)