Governors Issue Proclamation Urging Energy Independence

By TIM HUBER

Gov. Joe Manchin is trying to persuade the rest of the nation’s governors that individual states should eliminate their dependence on foreign energy instead of waiting for the federal government.

The idea comes out of Manchin’s involvement with the Southern States Energy Board.

On Monday, the board sent out a Declaration of Energy Independence signed by Manchin and Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher.

The document runs down a lengthy list of potential problems that the energy board says the nation faces if it doesn’t rid itself of the need for imported crude.

The list comes from an energy security study that the organization published last summer.

The declaration reflects Manchin’s belief that it’s the states, not the federal government that will lead the nation to energy independence, spokeswoman Lara Ramsburg said.

Every state has the resources to end its own dependence on foreign energy, such as West Virginia using coal to make diesel and other transportation fuels, she said.

“What this is, is an attempt to bring that to the attention of all the other states and to help them take an inventory of what resources they have.”

The 18-member energy board’s idea of independence centers on using coal, oil shale and plant products to replace imported crude oil by 2030, according to last summer’s study.

To do so, the nation would have to replace the 60 percent of its energy that is imported today. Fuel from coal would account for 29 percent, followed by biomass energy such as ethanol for fuel and plant matter burned for electricity at 24 percent.

Oil from shale, more fuel efficiency and better oil recovery using, among other things, carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants, make up the rest, according to the study.

“Basically what the governor’s trying to do here is really let the governors of the other states have a feel for some of the problems that they’re going to experience in the future,” said Ken Nemeth, the board’s executive director. “Where we’re really coming from is the economic and homeland security issues.”

At the core is coal. Nemeth said coal produces better quality, longer lasting, cleaner gasoline than crude oil.

“Everybody talks about ethanol,” Nemeth said. “We need to look at coal to liquids.”

Besides West Virginia and Kentucky, the Southern States Energy Board includes representatives of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and the Virgin Islands.

(c) 2007 Charleston Daily Mail. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.