Coal Conversion Burns Foes, Pleases Friends
By Ed Peeks
A Walker Machinery billboard in Charleston proclaims, “Yes, Coal. Clean, carbon neutral coal.”
The message echoes belief that coal resources abound in this country to break dependence on foreign oil, the source of $4-a- gallon gas at home.
It embraces coal developments like Consol Energy’s plan to build in West Virginia what’s called the nation’s first modern coal-to- liquids plant.
“Technological solutions like this plant in Benwood will lead to more environmentally friendly ways to use our coal and hold the key to America’s energy security,” said Gov. Joe Manchin.
The $800 million plant is a joint venture by Consol and Houston- based Synthesis Energy Systems. The plant is designed to produce methanol for the chemical industry and gasoline for transportation.
In a manner of speaking, Walker Machinery is to the Appalachian coalfields what the giant Halliburton is to the Mideast oil region. They supply equipment and services to their respective energy producers.
Walker befriends citizen groups like Friends of Coal. But they are no friends of environmentalists, particularly those red-hot against mountaintop removal mining, where some Walker equipment and services are used.
At any rate, the Sierra Club and others like the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy take a dim view of coal conversion. They see coal liquids emitting carbon dioxide, thus contributing to greenhouse gases and global warming.
The Consol plant is designed to catch and store carbon dioxide to keep it out of the atmosphere. Such prospect and others boost coal as a choice fuel, despite friends and foes.
“Coal, clean coal, must be the solution to our energy needs,” said Sen. Jay Rockefeller. “It is the only solution to our energy needs. That is what is so ridiculous about all of it. It’s what we’ve got. God gave it to us.”
Rockefeller, D-W.Va., spoke last year at the Coal-To-Liquid Coalition Conference in Daniels, Raleigh County. Protesters outside the conference hall carried signs saying, “Liquid Coal Destroys Communities” and “No Fuel From My Blood.”
Wind and solar power offer alternative fuels to generate electricity. Financier T. Boone Pickens has invested $10 billion in a windmill farm in Texas, where he made a fortune in oil.
The question arises whether Pickens knows something not known to leaders of Halliburton, formerly headed by Vice President Richard Cheney. Anyway, Halliburton moved headquarters from Houston to oil- rich Dubai in the Persian Gulf.
Halliburton subsidiaries supply goods and services to U.S. armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Under federal contract, they supply everything from fuel to food.
Still, coal conversion advances in this country with calls for energy independence. One of the latest comes from Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., sponsor of the Clean Coal-Derived Fuel for Energy Security Act.
“American coal can provide a clean liquid fuel as an alternative to imported oil,” said Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., a co-sponsor of the Capito bill.
Peeks is a former Gazette business/labor editor.
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