Annual Symposium Focuses on Future of Coal

By Darst, Paul

CHARLESTON – The new color of coal is green.

At least that’s what some of those attending the 35th Annual West Virginia Mining Symposium in Charleston Jan. 9-11 said they believe. The symposium, which was sponsored by the West Virginia Coal Association, featured state and national officials. “We must be more pro-active and not act only as naysayers or critics (about climate change),” said Jim Roberts, chairman of the board of the National Mining Association and chairman, president and CEO of Foundation Coal Holdings Inc. “We are on the right side of the debate.”

Roberts said that by 2030, the United States would need 40 percent more power than it does today. Most of that power will come from coal, he said. Concerns about carbon emissions and other environmental issues can be addressed with the use of advanced technology, Roberts said.

“We support real targets that will reduce CO2 emissions around the globe,” he said. “We support real change.”

Roberts pointed to emerging technologies like carbon sequestration a way to make coal more environmentally friendly.

“Technology is the answer to climate change,” Roberts said.

Roberts pointed to a Standard & Poor’s report that predicts that coal will be a major fuel for producing electricity for the foreseeable future.

And the demand for electricity will continue to grow as well. In 2010, the world ispredicted to need 9 billion kilowatts of electricity, said Kenneth Nemeth, executive director of the Southern States Energy Board, who also addressed the symposium. By 2030, world electrical need will be 31 billion kilowatts, he said.

And coal will be what produces most of that energy, he said. By 2030, coal will produce 74 percent more electricity than it does today. Other methods of production likely will increase as well: Oil by 43 percent, natural gas by 64 percent and nuclear by 30 percent.

Despite those forecasts, however, more and more states are blocking construction of new coal-burning power plants, Nemeth said.

“We’re not utilizing coal,” he said. “We’ve spent $100 billion defending the Persian Gulf the last nine months while we’ve seen the erosion of the U.S. industrial base. We have record trade deficits. We’re sending $1 billion a day out of the U.S. Every time we buy gas, we’re sending money to Third World nations that don’t like us.

“We can’t win a war when we’re funding both sides of it.”

One speaker who said he is intimately familiar with the energy security needs of the country was U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D- W.Va. One part of the solution, he said, would be coal-to-liquid technology.

“The costs are major,” Rockefeller said. “We need a federalgovernment investment that we haven’t seen since the Manhattan Project.”

The government, he said, should fund the project so industry doesn’t have to foot the bill and pass the costs along to consumer. Rockefeller said he believes it can be done in 5 to 7 years.

“It flat out can be done,” he said.

Rockefeller said he now is working on a bill that would establish the Future Fuels Corp., which would be a vehicle for such a project.

But at this time, the future of coal looks bleak, said Kevin Cruchfield, president and director of ALPHA Natural Resources Inc.

“Climate change legislation is likely, but not until after the presidential election,” he said. “Central Appalachian basin (coal) is on a … Gaussian slope and there’s not much we can do about it.”

One reason is because of regulatory and legal constraints, Crutchfield said. He pointed out that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued eight Section 404 (Clean Water Act) permits in 2007. They issued 30 to 40 the previous year. The issuance of so few permits this past year has created a large backlog.

“The backlog will affect production in 2009,” he said.

Copyright State Journal Corporation Jan 18, 2008

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