Bill Text - 112th Congress (2011-2012) - THOMAS (Library of Congress)
More than a year ago, one of West Virginia's own representatives to the United States Congress, from West Virginia's 2nd Congressional District, the Honorable Shelley Moore Capito:
Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito : Contact Shelley;
in a move, that, insofar as we have been able to determine, went entirely unheralded by our Coal Country press, went to bat for West Virginia, for the security of the United States of America, and, for Coal.
On May 12, 2011, she introduced to the United States House of Representatives a bill that would require the use of Coal-derived liquid fuels, at certain amounts and in certain applications, in the United States of America.
We extend our sincere apologies to Representative Capito; and, to the West Virginia, to the entire United States, Coal industry.
We, here, given the nature of our research focus, should have discovered and reported the facts much earlier.
Representative Capito, and the Coal industry, and the people of West Virginia, deserve apologies, as well, from everyone who lives in West Virginia and who calls themselves a journalist; and, who didn't fully report this to the Coal Country public.
We actively search for news of this sort; have been now for quite a few years. And, we didn't see mention of it anywhere in the public news venues of West Virginia.
Why?
Comment follows excerpts from the initial link in this dispatch to:
"Bill Text: 112th Congress (2011-2012); H.R. 1868.IH
Clean Coal-Derived Fuels for Energy Security Act of 2011
To require the inclusion of coal-derived fuel at certain volumes in aviation fuel, motor vehicle fuel, home heating oil, and boiler fuel.
In The House of Representatives; May 12, 2011
Mrs. Capito (for herself, Mr. Critz, Mr. Bushon, Mr. Terry, Mr. Rahall, and Mr. Holden) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
((Representative Mark Critz | Representing the 12th District of Pennsylvania
Welcome to Congressman Larry Bucshon | Congressman Larry Bucshon (Indiana)
Congressman Lee Terry (Nebraska)
Welcome to Congressman Nick Rahall | Congressman Nick Rahall(3rd District of WV)
Welcome to Congressman Tim Holden | Congressman Tim Holden(17th District PA))
A Bill: To require the inclusion of coal-derived fuel at certain volumes in aviation fuel, motor vehicle fuel, home heating oil, and boiler fuel.
This Act may be cited as the `Clean Coal-Derived Fuels for Energy Security Act of 2011'.
In this Act:
(1) Clean Coal-Derived Fuel:
(A) In General: The term `clean coal-derived fuel' means aviation fuel, motor vehicle fuel, home heating oil, or boiler fuel that is:
(i) substantially derived from the coal resources of the United States; and
(ii) refined or otherwise processed at a facility located in the United States that captures up to 100 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions that would otherwise be released at the facility.
(B) Inclusions: The term `clean coal-derived fuel' may include any fuel derived from any other resource that is extracted, grown, produced, or recovered in the United States.
(2) Covered Fuel - The term `covered fuel' means:
(A) aviation fuel;
(B) motor vehicle fuel;
(C) home heating oil; and
(D) boiler fuel."
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We're making our excerpts extremely brief, since the full bill does go on at appreciable length, in convoluted congressional language, about a number of things, such as the specifics of the "certain volumes" of liquid fuels based on Coal that would have to be included in our national energy mix.
One thing that troubles us is the language, that, a Coal liquefaction "facility located in the United States" would be required to capture "up to 100 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions that would otherwise be released at the facility".
Why?
Conventional petroleum refineries, especially those that process "heavy" crude petroleum, aren't, as far as we know, forced to labor under such a requirement. And, they emit copious amounts of CO2.
Why isn't the playing field made equal?
Should such a requirement remain, however, we do remind you that, as seen for just one example in:
West Virginia Coal Association | August 2011, CO2-to-Gasoline US Patent Awarded | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 7,989,507 - Production of Fuel Materials Utilizing Waste Carbon Dioxide; 2011; Inventor: Bruce Rising, Florida; Assignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft, Germany; Abstract: The present invention is directed to a method for utilizing CO2 waste comprising recovering carbon dioxide from an industrial process that produces a waste stream comprising carbon dioxide in an amount greater than an amount of carbon dioxide present in starting materials for the industrial process. The method further includes producing hydrogen using a renewable energy resource and producing a hydrocarbon material utilizing the produced hydrogen and the recovered carbon dioxide";
we should be able to find something constructive and positive, and profitable, to do with the Carbon Dioxide we might be forced to recover.
But, a final, and almost repetitive, question:
Why has none of this been covered, and reported assiduously, and followed up on, by the Coal Country press?
If it is just ignorance and oversight, then: confess it; and, correct it.
If it is something else, however, as our now long, personal and very sad, experience in some other gravely serious matters suggests it might be, then that is an issue all the rest of us, somehow, will have to put our heads together and figure out how to deal with.