Sen. Salazar Addresses the Importance of Clean Coal Technology in
Senate Energy Committee Hearing
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Recognizing
the strides this Congress has made toward a more responsible energy
policy, United States Senator Ken Salazar made the following statement
in the Senate Energy Committee today. Senator Salazar’s statement focused
on clean coal technology and identifying the need to further identify
efficient carbon capturing methods to ensure that we can achieve greater
energy, economic and environmental security in this country.
“I want to thank
Chairman Bingaman and Ranking Member Domenici for holding today’s hearing
on clean coal technologies, and efforts to capture and store carbon
dioxide. I am proud of our achievements on clean coal technologies in
the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and on carbon sequestration in the Energy
Savings Act of 2007. There is more work to do, however, particularly
given the very real near-term as well as longer-term opportunities for
carbon capture and storage and the commercial deployment of advanced
coal utilization technologies…
“My home state of
Colorado is endowed with many natural resources, including vast coal
resources. In Colorado, 71% of the electricity we produce is generated
with coal. Colorado consumed 18.9 million tons of coal in 2004, generating
37.5 million megawatts of electricity. Most of this coal comes from
Colorado, but some of it is from Wyoming.
“Coal is our most
abundant domestic energy source. It provides more than 50% of our nation’s
electricity needs, and America has enough coal to last more than 200
years. Unfortunately, CO2 pollution from coal combustion is a main cause
of global warming, which threatens my state’s water resources, our economy,
and our quality of life.
“Fortunately, there
seems to be more than one way to reconcile coal use with protecting
our climate, through new low-carbon technologies such as Integrated
Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC), Oxycoal and ultra-supercritical
combustion technologies. In addition, advancements in capturing carbon
and safely sequestering it underground will allow our country to use
coal, and at the same time reduce CO2 emissions. I am proud of the work
this Committee did in the Energy Savings Act of 2007 to promote research,
development and deployment of carbon capture and sequestration technologies,
and to do an assessment of our nation’s carbon storage capacity. What
we learn from the national assessment may be valuable in determining
optimal locations to place coal gasification and other new power plants
to put them near areas where the CO2 emissions can be safely sequestered.
“Advances in technology
indicate that a coal plant using combined cycle technology, carbon capture
and storage, and biomass as part of the fuel source can result in far
lower greenhouse gas emissions. It is my understanding that even some
coal-to-liquid processes can use up to 30% biomass in the feedstock,
which reduces the CO2 emissions from the process. The use of a renewable
fuel like biomass in these plants presents a great opportunity to allow
for an expanded use of coal without adding to global warming.
“I also believe
plug-in hybrid electric vehicles present an important opportunity to
utilize coal – to make electricity – as a source of transportation fuel,
and thus to displace large quantities of petroleum-based transportation
fuels. Because two-thirds of our transportation fuels are derived form
petroleum products, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles powered by electricity
generated from renewable sources and from advanced coal power plants
with carbon capture and storage will enable us to achieve greater energy
security, economic security and environmental security in this country.
“Thank you Chairman
Bingaman and Ranking Member Domenici for holding today’s hearing so
that we can learn more about how our country’s greatest fossil fuel
resource can be used to power our homes and businesses as well as to
fuel our automobiles.”
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