New climate bill aimed at 'ensuring a future for coal'

> Dec 11 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Ken Ward Jr. The Charleston
> Gazette, W.Va.
>
> The latest version of a U.S. Senate bill to address global
> warming will be aimed at "ensuring a future for coal," according to a
> legislative framework released Thursday by a bipartisan trio of
> senators.
>
> Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass.; Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn.; and Lindsey
> Graham, R-S.C., said they wanted to announce a starting point for
> their discussions. A final bill isn't expected until spring, and they
> gave few details so there would be room for further negotiations.
>
> A four-page outline cites recent statements by Sen. Robert C.
> Byrd,
> D-W.Va., that coal will remain a major part of the nation's energy
> mix, but that some form of climate change legislation likely will
> become law.
>
> "We agree with both statements," the new climate framework
> document said. "However, due to current regulatory uncertainty, it is
> increasingly challenging to site new coal facilities, and utilities
> are switching to other fuel sources."
>
> The document noted that one utility in North Carolina announced
> earlier this month that it plans to take 11 coal-fired generating
> units out of service because of carbon dioxide emissions.
>
> "Coal's future as part of the energy mix is inseparable from the
> passage of comprehensive climate change and energy legislation," the
> document said. "We will commit significant resources to the rapid
> development and deployment of clean-coal technology, and dedicated
> support for early deployment of carbon capture and sequestration."
>
> The senators said they hope to propose a near-term greenhouse
> emissions reduction "in the range" of 17 percent, equal to that
> contained in a bill passed earlier this year by the House.
>
> A current Senate bill proposes a near-term emissions reduction of
> 20 percent by 2020.
>
> American Electric Power has said it would support the 17 percent
> cut contained in the House bill, but other coal industry supporters --
> including the United Mine Worker union and Sen. Jay Rockefeller,
> D-W.Va., -- have said that is too stringent and won't give the
> industry time to perfect and deploy carbon-capture and storage
> equipment on the nation's power plants.
>
> Also Thursday, Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., announced that
> she would be among the Republican members of a bipartisan House
> delegation that Speaker Nancy Pelosi, R-Calif., is taking next week to
> the climate- change talks in Copenhagen.
>
> Capito said in a statement that she remains "skeptical" that the
> Obama administration's goal of a near-term greenhouse emissions cut of
> 17 percent
> -- the same figure proposed in the latest Senate outline -- "is
> economically viable, particularly at a time of economic distress."
>
> "We all share the goals of a greener energy future, with improved
> energy efficiency and a diverse energy portfolio," Capito said. "Yet
> we also have an obligation to work towards those goals in a way that
> doesn't devastate the economies in the communities we represent. From
> job losses to increased energy rates, emissions cuts and a new
> cap-and-trade regime are not without serious costs for families across
> our state."
>
> Previously, Capito has been among the Republicans who have
> promoted potential cap-and-trade costs that academic experts whose
> work they cited said were being misquoted and exaggerated.
>
> Also, despite a widespread scientific consensus, Capito has said
> she's "not convinced" that human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide
> are leading to global warming that will alter the planet's climate in
> ways that could be dangerous.
>
> "I'm looking at the studies, and trying to understand it,"
> Capito said
> earlier this year, "but I'm not convinced that the urgencies or the
> doomsday predictions are factual."
>
> Reach Ken Ward Jr. at [email protected] or 304-348-1702.
>
>
>