Today the Energy Subcommittee of the Science, Space and Technology Committee held a hearing on the benefits, risks and costs associated with the continued use of coal to help America meet our growing need for energy.
While the green technologies of wind, waves and sun continues to claim the world’s focus to clean up the environment and stave off global warming, proponents of coal stand their ground. Read more…
Subcommittee Chair Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo) calls coal “of critical importance to the United States” beginning with Thomas Edison to the present. Lummis says that “coal has led the way in enabling the enormous improvements to Americans’ health and well-being,” and she supports coal for the jobs it provides and affordable manufactured goods.
Lummis says there is a “war on coal” which she describes as a “beneficial, life-improving resource upon which society depends.”
She charges the hostile attack is being lead by the EPA and President Obama.
The Statement of the Coal Utilization Research Council (CURC) presented at the hearing outlined the current use of coal in the U.S. at 37% and suggested consumption will grow both in the U.S. and China. However, the CURC called it “imperative” that cleaner coal be developed while remaining an economical resource.
As part of today’s testimony the CURC asserts that “today, three out of every four coal plants in the U.S. are equipped with technologies that trace their origins to DOE’s coal R&D program. The successful development and use of technologies have allowed coal use to increase by more than 180% since the early 1970s while the emissions rates of SO2 and NOx have decreased by approximately 85%”.
Is there such a thing as “clean coal”? And will this world-wide resource be a part of America’s portfolio of green, clean tech?
For more information
http://democrats.science.house.gov/
http://science.house.gov/legislation