Remarks by Secretary of Energy
Bill Richardson
at the
Conference on Air Quality
Washington, DC
December 1, 1998

Thank you, Senator Conrad, for your kind introduction. We certainly share a commitment to ensuring the quality of America's air and to healing her environment.

Senator Conrad has, over the years, made significant contributions to the stewardship of our nation's natural resources. He has made it part of his mission to help return America's environment closer to its origin, where air is clean and water runs clear.

A leader in protecting our agricultural assets, Senator Conrad has also served as a major advocate of developing the new technologies that will yield even better environmental returns into the 21st century.

Senator Conrad is also a tireless advocate on behalf of one of today's co-sponsors: the Energy and Environmental Research Center, located back in the Senator's home state of North Dakota. For your contributions in protecting our nation's environment, Senator: thank you.

And the Energy and Environmental Research Center remains a constant in the Federal government's pursuit of the best energy and environmental science.

Today, I'd like to discuss with you:

• Where we as a nation stand in our quest for air quality
• What we have accomplished
• What we're going to accomplish
• and how we can work together to achieve the best results possible in the future.

Our past has in many ways framed our future. Over thirty years ago, President John F. Kennedy said it was an American "task to hand down undiminished to those who come after us the natural wealth and beauty which is ours."

The Clinton Administration has taken up President Kennedy's "task," raising air quality and the preservation of our environment to the forefront of our national agenda.

We've fought for safe drinking water. We've battled for clean air. We've recommitted our scientific resources toward developing new technologies that will make our environmental returns come more rapidly, and with greater value, in the future.

What We've Accomplished

But in many ways, the U.S. has been addressing the issue of environmental stewardship for almost three decades.

There is a proverb that tells us, "Nature is not made." To me, this means that, once a facet of nature is lost, it is lost forever.

For too long, we as humans ignored this truth. It was only over time, as awareness caught up with America, that we found the value in this wisdom. And we've taken steps toward preserving that which was given to us.

Since the 1970's--when our common environmental awareness neared critical mass--the United States has made significant progress in what EPA Administrator Carol Browner called, "clearing the air." Our nation's energy industries--and especially those that generate the electricity that powers our economy--have led the way.

Since the 1970 Clean Air Act, U.S. electric utilities have dramatically reduced the release of sulfur- and nitrogen-containing gases.

From 1980 to today, annual sulfur dioxide emissions from 445 coal-burning power plants have been cut considerably--from 20.5 million tons to 12.6 million tons. And they will go down again as "Phase 2" of the acid rain program kicks in a little over a year from now.

From 1990 to 1998, nitrogen oxide emissions (or, "NOx") from utility boilers dropped by over 10 percent.

And since 1988, we've cut fly ash from power plants by nearly a third.

How have we done this?

In several ways. The Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Electric Power Research Institute, industry, and a number of other organizations have made a concerted commitment toward improving our environment.

The long-term research and technology development is, to-date, one of the major reasons for the dramatic gains we're enjoying. We cut sulfur dioxide emissions by switching to low-sulfur coal and developing reliable scrubbers that could scour the sulfur from boiler gases. Through emissions trading programs. We cut "NOx" emissions by developing "low-NOx" burners. And we cut fly ash in the air through new filtering devices like improved baghouses and electrostatic precipitators.

And we have pioneered new types of power systems--coal gasification plants in Florida, Indiana, and Nevada--which achieve unprecedented levels of environmental performance. Again, the product of public-private partnerships.

These are major developments that are paying dividends for all of America.

Ratepayers are seeing dividends in lower monthly rates.

Companies are seeing dividends in the benefits of new technologies and in increased efficiencies. We enjoy the lowest cost electricity of any industrialized nation--and that is helping us grow the economy. And we have been able to do this without sacrificing the most important dividend of all: a cleaner, healthier United States of America.

What We're Going to Accomplish

Yet what we have achieved is just the beginning, and our past success makes our current mission more challenging. And increasing that challenge are the demands of American business and the public.

Today, there is an abundance of fossil fuels--with oil at historic low prices.

The Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration projects that the world will double its energy use by 2030, and quadruple it by the end of the next century.

This will surely impact global emissions profiles--and demands our continued attention to air quality.

Combined with this reality is a new environmental reality: that sources of pollution are becoming more difficult to identify, as are the components of pollution we most need to monitor. Today, for example, our energy and industrial sectors are being challenged to identify and control airborne particles so small that 30 of them would barely equal the width of a human hair.

But as in the past, technology is allowing us to greet this growing challenge with innovative solutions.

Where knowledge is lacking, we are collecting new, scientifically-sound data that can--and should--be used to set regulations. Where standard technologies don't perform in ways that will protect our environment, we're developing new ones. And we're making them available at reasonable costs.

And we've designed combustion systems to increase efficiency, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The old paradigm in industry was that significant action on air quality runs counter to the bottom line. The new paradigm is that clean business is good business. Emerging technologies mean we can grow the economy at the same time we improve the environment. President Clinton has called it a "third way," a bold, new path that business can take to better returns both fiscally and environmentally.

It is a course that runs right through the Department of Energy, where we're pursuing affordable environmental technologies as partners with industry. The Department of Energy is a kind of catalyst--an incubator of sorts--for many of the developing technologies that will positively impact air quality and our nation's economy.

We are involved in high-tech air monitoring through our Federal Energy Technology Center--one of today's co-sponsors. We're involved in the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles. We're working with other agencies and industry on the Partnership for Advancing Technologies in housing. Microturbines, and hydrogen-fueled energy systems.

And there's more.

DOE is also at the forefront of developing energy efficiency practices for American businesses and consumers, helping to improve our use of energy resources, increase our energy security and also improve our air quality.

We are on the vanguard of deregulating the electricity industry--a remarkable development that will save American businesses and consumers 20 billion dollars annually. Technological innovations and competition from deregulation will cause power plants to become more efficient in the future. Electric generators will have to lower costs to remain competitive--by embracing new technologies that boost efficiencies. And consumers will be able to select renewable energy sources, or "green power," providing support for a fledgling domestic industry.

The end result is a winner for everyone--industry, government, and the American people, because we're seeing big savings for companies through improved efficiencies we're seeing environmental gains for the public through cleaner production and we're seeing America maintain its lead in scientific achievement through the development of new, affordable technologies.

We're starting to see more and more evidence of why we need to tackle the issue of the environment so aggressively: global climate change.

The majority of mainstream scientists conclude that increased fossil fuel use will have an undeniable negative impact on our environment. Consensus estimates indicate a 2-to-6 degree increase in average global temperatures by the end of the next century if current emissions trends are maintained.

When we consider air quality, we must think globally-- what we do impacts the world, just as what the world does impact us. After all, industrialized countries--with just 20 percent of the world's population--consume more than 80 percent of fossil fuels produced.

The United States is undertaking an aggressive program of domestic actions to limit greenhouse gases at home. President Clinton has outlined a $6.3 billion proposal for research and development investments and tax incentives for developing technologies that will help our environment.

In the budget negotiations this past October, Congress agreed to fund much of the proposed first step of the investment package.

Today, the Department of Energy is developing the technologies that are resulting in real, quantifiable results in the U.S. and abroad. The effective technologies we have enjoyed for the past thirty years are now being implemented in developing economies like China, and our commitment to developing new, affordable and effective technologies will continue to impact these economies into the 21st century.

How We Can Work Together

Now, on the subject of this conference--Mercury, Trace Elements, and Particulate Matter. These are the near-term environmental challenges that confront virtually everyone in our industrial and transportation sectors that produce or consume energy.

At DOE, we are taking a two-pronged approach:

• One, collecting and analyzing the data - ensuring that it is scientifically-sound and that it properly reflects the "real-life" world.

• And two, developing the technology to control these pollutants - making tomorrow's systems better, more affordable, and more attractive both in the United States and in other countries.
  

And I used the occasion to announce a new contract with Advanced Technology Systems, a small business in the Pittsburgh area that will help us analyze small airborne particles and help us trace their origins.

We think collecting this data is an important and necessary step. When issues arose over the release of mercury into our environment, sound "real-life" data was lacking. DOE, the Electric Power Research Institute, and many of our nation's utilities joined with EPA to develop a data base of mercury emissions and control technologies where none had existed before.

Today, again in partnership with industry, we are developing new ways to control mercury - and new ways to retrofit these technologies onto existing boilers and scrubbers.

The same data collection is now underway for small particles.

We need to know much more than we know today about the "fingerprints" of these particles--what comes out of the stack, what comes from other sectors of our industry, what kind of transformations occur in the atmosphere--most importantly, what sources are the biggest problems.

And at the same time, we need to sustain our commitment to R&D that can do what our R&D of the past 20 years has done--produce new technologies that clean our air while keeping our economy growing.

Scientifically-sound knowledge and cost-effective technology--these are what we hope to gain. We are committed to our role as a catalyst--bringing together businesses, state and local governments, regulators and scientists--in a way that makes sustained environmental progress the legacy we leave to future generations.

Conclusion

Another proverb I like to recall when I talk about air quality and nature and our role in improving the environment is, "Nature does nothing in vain."

When we see the news stories from the far corners of the globe that document weather-related catastrophes...

When we read another report on how man's industrial footprint has indelibly altered one or another facet of our shared environment....

When we look from our windows and can't see nature for the haze and the smog

These are lasting reminders that nature indeed does nothing in vain. Nature sends us signals. Nature speaks to us when perhaps we've gone too far.

Today, I think we're going far in applying our know-how and our science toward improving our air quality. We're going far in renewing our environment. We as a diverse team of interested parties stand at the threshold of our nation's--and our world's--environmental future.

Thank you.