GASOLINE prices may reach $4 by summer, some experts warn. Big Oil
corporations are reaping obscene profits in hundreds of billions.
Exxon's former chairman got a $400 million retirement package.
Such affronts caused a bitter hearing in Congress Tuesday about Big Oil
profiteering. Defensively, chiefs of five global fuel firms testified
that world oil prices over $100 a barrel put them over a barrel, and
that Americans simply must pay astronomical prices at the pump.
Meanwhile, the upsurge in oil cost has sent coal value skyrocketing.
The Washington Post reported that coal prices rose 50 percent in the
past five months, and "mining companies are enjoying a windfall." U.S.
coal exports are climbing, which caused the paper to note:
GASOLINE prices may reach $4 by summer, some experts warn. Big Oil corporations are reaping obscene profits in hundreds of billions. Exxon's former chairman got a $400 million retirement package.
Such affronts caused a bitter hearing in Congress Tuesday about Big Oil profiteering. Defensively, chiefs of five global fuel firms testified that world oil prices over $100 a barrel put them over a barrel, and that Americans simply must pay astronomical prices at the pump.
Meanwhile, the upsurge in oil cost has sent coal value skyrocketing. The Washington Post reported that coal prices rose 50 percent in the past five months, and "mining companies are enjoying a windfall." U.S. coal exports are climbing, which caused the paper to note:
"The still-gaping trade deficit of the world's largest industrial power at the turn of the 21st century was slightly eased by a fuel from the era and pages of Charles Dickens."
America has the world's largest coal reserves - 268 billion tons, the Post said - enough to last 200 years. Russia is second with 173 billion, and other nations trail far behind. It's logical that U.S. and West Virginia coal will assume an ever-bigger role in the global energy dilemma.
Gov. Joe Manchin remains determined to create billion-dollar coal liquefication plants in West Virginia, to turn Mountain State coal into gasoline and reduce America's dependency on Mideast oil. However, it's simpler to turn coal into natural gas, fueling power plants and home furnaces by pipeline, he said in a Monday meeting with Gazette editors. He hinted that a major announcement about coal conversion may come soon.
Futuristic plans to transform coal into America's all-purpose fuel have been explored for decades - ever since long-ago efforts for "slurry" pipelines carrying soupy coal dust mixtures. But that pipe dream fizzled, like several others.
West Virginia sought the visionary FutureGen plant designed to produce electricity without pollution, but the huge federal proposal was earmarked for coal-rich Illinois instead. Then, two months ago - on the day after President Bush hailed clean-coal technology in his State of the Union address - his administration killed FutureGen as unfeasible.
For a year, Rentech of California has promised a billion-dollar coal liquefication plant in Mingo County, creating 400 jobs, but nothing has happened yet.
Currently, the most promising venture in clean coal is taking shape in Mason County. American Electric Power first sank $533 million into scrubbers removing 98 percent of sulfur dioxide - a chief cause of acid rain - from fumes at the coal-burning Mountaineer Plant. Now the utility is investing $70 million more in one of the world's first "sequestration" operations. Carbon dioxide - the chief suspect in global warming - will be captured from smokestacks, compressed into liquid, then pumped 8,000 feet underground for storage in porous rock layers. We hope this costly plan succeeds.
Gov. Manchin's master energy plan envisions many other facets: natural gas, wind power, solar, hydroelectric, biomass, geothermal and conservation of energy. About the only thing West Virginia lacks is power from ocean tides. But so far, coal remains the 800-pound gorilla in the fuel jungle. America's ravenous need for power simply cannot be met without this mammoth source.
We have confidence in the advance of science and technology. Someday we hope, pollution-free coal power finally will be attained. When that day arrives, West Virginia will have even higher status as a dynamo of America's economy.
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