Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 4, 1991 TAG: 9103040295
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROBERT P. KENNEL
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
My company has a vested interest in coal as a fuel because we are building a series of small, clean, coal cogeneration plants in Virginia; but we also have considerable experience in renewable energy and a good reputation in tough environmental states such as California, Maine and Virginia.
Clearly, Virginia's dramatic growth over the past decade, as well as its anticipated new growth, now requires additional electrical power. Professor McConnell's thesis is that Virginia Power can accommodate such growth without new coal plants (no matter how clean) through conservation and alternate energy means. However, this is simply not the answer. He appears to be blinded by the hype of others as well as misapplying his own geology expertise.
The simple fact is that the currently proposed clean-coal cogeneration projects in Virginia are the wave of the future; and the currently planned projects are quite environmentally responsible. Modern baghouses take out more than 99.9 percent of smoke particles and eliminate the unsightly plumes formerly associated with coal.
The current projects have also reduced sulfur dioxide emissions to the 0.1-0.15 pounds per million Btu of fuel input. This is some 50 times more environmentally efficient than the out-of-state plants providing much of Virginia's electricity now, and 15 to 25 times cleaner than mandated by the 1990 Clean Air Act.
A recently completed 10-year, $500 million federal study, the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program, concludes that acid-rain effects are not as serious as had been predicted. Although Congress essentially ignored these findings in passing the Clean Air Act, that legislation provides for dramatic SO2 cleanup by 1995.
Furthermore, acid rain is not a local phenomenon, but the result of complex atmospheric chemistry occurring hundreds of miles downwind. It has been shown that of all the SO2 source loading on the Shenandoah National Park, only 4 percent comes from Virginia, with the rest from states to the west.
The Environmental Protection Agency recently completed a comprehensive comparison of out-of-state pollution with newly proposed Virginia projects and concluded the new projects would cause no adverse impacts. In essence, Virginia gets what it pays for: the cheaper power from out of state comes along with the poor air quality from out of state.
Although it is known that all fossil-fuel combustion contributes to the "greenhouse effect," the scientific community is still uncertain of the degree and other causes. Some 18 months ago, I was the sole industry representative at a Washington, D.C., research conference on "Industry response to global warming." When I raised the question of acid rain "buffering" global warming in the Northern Hemisphere, Mr. Jim Hanson of the National Aeronautics and Space Agency hooted, "What can you expect from industry?"
Recently I read that Mr. Hanson had just co-authored a paper acknowledging acid rain's moderating effect on global warming. Professor Patrick Michael, state climatologist from the University of Virginia, publicly chides the improper use of technical data for such politically inspired fears of global warming.
For a number of years, as president of the National Wood Energy Association and Board Member of the Renewable Fuels Association, I have fought in Virginia, as well as in Congress, for improved renewable energy, alternate energy and conservation programs. Current economics simply do not encourage or provide for significant renewable energy projects, because society has not been willing to pay the higher electric-power rates for energy independence and a cleaner environment.
There is also a recent New Jersey Utility Commission conservation study showing traditional home-energy audits returning only 30 cents on the dollar, and higher-performance lighting or motors returning only 70 cents on the dollar. Furthermore, those conservation measures were taken in a state where the general power prices are 3 to 4 cents per kilowatt-hour higher than in Virginia. You cannot run a commonwealth just by turning off light switches, but you can provide substantial economic benefits to hard-hit local industries through such industrial conservation measures as cogeneration.
Forces of environmental overreaction may be trying to portray coal as a "dirty fuel." However, coal can be burned in an environmentally responsible manner, as is being done by the current coal projects in the Virginia permitting process. Beyond these safe environmental issues, however, are other significant Virginia benefits for economic development and energy independence.
The economic benefits of cogeneration's timely construction, controlled cost of producing power, Virginia coal use, and steam-host industry expansions should be most important for a state running a significant budget deficit. Similarly, the ability to use fuels indigenous to the nation, region, or state should be an obvious benefit relative to our oil-related (and now blood-related) presence in the Middle East.
We all need to better understand our technical and political issues before committing altruism to policy. We deserve clearer vision, both intellectually and environmentally!
by CNB