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Message: FYI: W.Va. poised to lead in energy, officials say
Friday February 20, 2009
W.Va. poised to lead in energy, officials say
Mining chief says state can be originator of clean coal technology
Daily Mail Capitol Reporter
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- West Virginia is well positioned as the nation moves toward alternative energy, clean-coal technology and a lesser dependence on foreign oil, national energy and mining officials say.
"West Virginia has an enormous amount of resources," National Mining Association President Hal Quinn said Thursday while attending the annual West Virginia Mining Symposium in Charleston. "If we go to our strengths in our energy policy, which we should, West Virginia will be the leader."
About 67 percent of electricity produced in West Virginia goes to other states, said Ken Nemeth, executive director of the Southern States Energy Board.
"West Virginia, I think, is the key to the Eastern electricity supply," he said. "You're a real juggernaut as a state."
As West Virginia and other states look toward developing alternative and renewable resources, coal will continue to be a primary energy source globally, Quinn said, particularly with clean coal technology.
"To address climate change, the future is with advanced clean coal technology's carbon capture storage," Quinn said. "We have the opportunity here in the United States to develop, advance and then use it here and export it worldwide."
Quinn credited West Virginia Sens. Robert C. Byrd and Jay Rockefeller with helping secure $3.4 billion in President Obama's stimulus package for fossil fuel research, coal research, advanced clean coal technology and carbon capture and storage technology.
West Virginia moved forward with its own energy plan Thursday as state lawmakers introduced Gov. Joe Manchin's Alternative and Renewable Energy Portfolio Act. It calls for 10 percent of the state's energy to come from alternative or renewable sources by 2015 and 25 percent by 2025.
"Right now we're 99 percent dependent on coal in the form that we burn it in right now," Manchin said. "We know that we have to change, and we can make it much better."
Diversifying energy portfolios with renewable energy sources, which include wind, solar, biomass and hydro, is a good thing, Nemeth and Quinn said, but there are limitations.
"If the wind stops blowing, you have to have something there to back them up, and in this state that's coal," Nemeth said.
"Renewable energy is important, but it's not going to be able to supply the steady state base load you need to have a reliable electricity system," Quinn said. That would come from coal, natural gas and nuclear power, he said.
Nemeth sees Manchin's bill as a way for West Virginia to play to its strengths with coal in developing alternative energy technologies that include advanced coal, integrated gasification combined cycle, coal to liquids and various other research and development programs.
Energy plans must be progressive and realistic, said Manchin, who noted he will learn more about the nation's energy policy at a National Governors Association meeting this weekend.
"The bottom line is if they start moving unrealistic expectations or policies that are going to rapidly increase the cost of energy in this country, that's going to make us less competitive," Manchin said. "It's going to be harder on the economy to rebound, and it's going to make us more dependent on foreign oil."
The nation's foreign oil dependency is at about 60 percent and growing, Manchin said.
An initiative known as the American Energy Security project, which began in 2006, is aimed at looking at the use of indigenous transportation fuels to solve the issue of U.S. military relying on imported and foreign fuels for jet fighters, tanks, helicopters and hummers, Nemeth said.
"For energy security purposes, we want to make sure that we can develop and utilize our own fuels in this country," Nemeth said. "We don't simply want to rely on some other countries to supply us strategic fuels.
"We need to use coal, we need to use biomass and we need to use oil shale," he said. "West Virginia obviously has a major role to play because of the resources that you have."
Contact writer Michelle Saxton at michelle.sax...@dailymail.com or 304-348-5149.
http://www.dailymail.com/News/staten...
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