Coal state governors Dec. 4 urged federal lawmakers to support coal technologies in the nation's next energy bill.
"If we're saying one thing to Washington, it's work collectively in a
nonpartisan way," said Gov. Joe Manchin during a news conference at an
energy summit at Stonewall Resort and Conference Center. "Coal has to
be part of the mix."
The State Journal - December 6, 2007
ROANOKE -- Coal state governors Dec. 4 urged federal lawmakers to support coal technologies in the nation's next energy bill.
"If we're saying one thing to Washington, it's work collectively in a nonpartisan way," said Gov. Joe Manchin during a news conference at an energy summit at Stonewall Resort and Conference Center. "Coal has to be part of the mix."
Governors and energy advisers from as far away as Utah joined legislators and agency and industry officials from across West Virginia at the day-long conference hosted by Gov. Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Department of Commerce and the Southern States Energy Board. They met to discuss the energy mix of the future -- primarily the role and challenges of coal.
There is no doubt that, as demand for energy rises, coal has an important future role in the U.S., said West Virginia University Institute of Technology Provost Charles Bayless.
"We have about 10 years of natural gas, about 13 years of oil, and about 250 years of coal," said Bayless, a former utility executive. "Where are we as a nation going to get our energy? Most energy people will tell you we're going to need everything we can get our hands on." Other morning speakers echoed Bayless on coal's prominence in the coming decades. But coal has an image problem, several acknowledged.
"The two solutions to our problems, nuclear and coal, have the biggest black eyes in the industry, and that's got to change," said SSEB Executive Director Kenneth J. Nemeth.
The afternoon's agenda covered possible solutions to some of coal's other problems: carbon capture and storage technologies to minimize coal's climate change emissions, along with the policies and investments needed to support those technologies.
Manchin said as the summit got under way that he hoped to hear information that would be useful for the state's newest energy plan.
He recently postponed finalizing "West Virginia Energy Opportunities: A Blueprint for the Future," drafted during the past year by the state Public Energy Authority and completed by the new Division of Energy, until after the summit.
As drafted, the plan aims to offset West Virginia's current share of imported oil, estimated at 1.3 billion gallons each year, with an energy-value equivalent in in-state production by the year 2030.
The plan proposes to offset those 1.3 billion gallons entirely through the construction of five 20,000-barrel-per-day coal-to-liquid plants.
Other energy sources and savings suggested in the plan include a small amount of wind power and some other non-fossil sources, such as wood residues for biofuels, landfill gas and chicken litter.
Manchin affirmed in an interview during the conference that he wants more renewables in the energy plan.
"We have to have a renewable portfolio along with our coal, along with our natural gas, along with our oil," he said when asked what he expected to come out of the summit that would lead to improvements in the final plan.
"What we're hoping for (today) is feedback on the technology changes that will make it do-able," he said. "Maybe as a large coal-producing state ... we haven't been as diversified (as we could). Maybe we haven't looked and been open to all the different technologies that are out there."
The energy blueprint is scheduled to be finalized by Dec. 15.
