Copenhagen, Dec 18, 2009
Representative Shelley Moore, Member of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, U.S. House of Representatives, was featured on a panel of Republicans staging a press conference here at the COP 15 today. She spoke up for coal, the energy which powers her state of West Virginia and provides some 35,000 jobs there.
Press Conference featuring Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W. Va.
I spoke with Moore briefly after her talk and asked her whether she has heard of any existing carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies with power losses of less than 30%. She said no, and went on to say that the cap and trade in Waxman-Markey would price coal out of business. So essentially, while putting forth the idea that CCS is a viable way to make coal clean, she in fact recognizes that it isn’t feasible now. She wants time allowances for the coal industry to continue in U.S. in the hopes that the technology can be improved.
Her publication online for the COP 15 presents a far rosier picture of CCS. From Investing In CCS:
“The American Electric Power (AEP) 1,300-megawatt Mountaineer Plant located in my district in New Haven, WV represents an important milestone in our efforts to bring CCS online. The Mountaineer Plant which began operating in September of 2009 is one of the first demonstrations of CCS from an existing coal-fueled power plant.”
“It will capture nearly 100,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. And with the help of $335 million in Department of Energy funding, AEP plans to capture about 18% of their emissions in the next few years. If successful, it will serve as a blue-print for commercial scale facilities.”
“Carbon capture is our most important tool to address carbon dioxide emissions from coal. It will not only benefit a state like mine with jobs and revenue, it will also benefit our nation and world by making clean coal a reality.”
There is no mention of the fact that greater efficiencies may not ultimately be possible. However, Steven Chu, U.S. Secretary of Energy, mentioned a far out possibility for far more efficient CCS which would use technology based on biological processes that exist in nature but whose methods are not understood.
Republicans are often the first to speak out against government spending, but not in this case where it supports the coal industry. And this type of support exists on both sides of the aisle, Waxman himself voiced his support for clean coal in his press conference the day earlier.
On the other side of the fence, NASA Scientist James Hansen has been very critical of coal, and considers fazing out coal critical to avoiding climate disaster. Further, many of the 40,000 demonstrators who marched in Copenhagen last Saturday had a different view of coal, as was evidenced by the popular chant “leave the coal in the hole”.
Report by James George