Remarks of
U.S. Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson
to the
7th Clean Coal Technology Conference
in Knoxville, Tennessee
(Remarks delivered in Kingsport, TN)
June 23, 1999

When the Clean Coal Technology Program started in the U.S. in the mid-1980s, the challenge was acid rain. It was an issue that affected regions of countries and, in some cases, bridged the boundaries of nations.

Emanating out from that challenge was a significant task -- "expand the menu of options" for reducing acid rain pollutants from coal - the chief recommendation of the U.S./Canadian Joint Envoys on Acid Rain. If this could be done, the Envoys said, (quote) "future policy decisions would become much easier."

It was quite a challenge, but as the Envoys believed, the rewards would be far sweeter. And so the Clean Coal pioneers - the people in this room took the challenge. In partnerships between the federal government, industry and state governments, you:

• Developed and demonstrated new ways to control pollutants at existing and new plants more reliably and at lower costs.
• You generated new ways to produce cleaner fuels that yielded more energy. And
• You created new ways to generate electricity, ways that departed from the traditional coal combustors and incorporated entirely new, more efficient and cleaner concepts.

In short, you developed and demonstrated an entirely new way of doing business. You have helped reshape coal's future.

You have invested heavily in clean coal technologies. We, as a nation, have also invested heavily in these technologies, as have many of our global neighbors. And that investment is paying off. There are 40 Clean Coal Technology programs in 18 states, from a Coal-burning Diesel in Alaska to Coal Gasification in Florida, and from Flue Gas Scrubbers in New York to Liquid Phase Methanol right here in Tennessee (Kingsport, to be specific). These are major projects, with a total value of nearly $6 billion dollars -- $4 billion from the private sector and states.

Each project - 24 which have completed their test runs -- is demonstrating first-of-its-kind technology. Let me give you a clear example of the kinds of results we're seeing.

In the 1980s, the technology to reduce nitrogen oxides cost almost $3,000 dollars for every ton of "NOx" reduced.

Today, because of research and development efforts and our Clean Coal Program, we have "nox-reduction" technology that costs only $200 dollars per ton - more than a 10-fold reduction. One-half of the coal-burning plants in America are now equipped with this technology. Within the next year or so, that figure will be 3 out of 4.

We have more reliable and lower cost scrubbers. We have entirely new options for turning coal into a gas and using it to generate electricity in ways that achieve unprecedented levels of environmental cleanliness. These technologies are a preview of coal's future - and I wanted to come here this evening to tell you that, in my opinion, the future is as bright for coal as it is for any energy resource...if we continue our commitment to technology.

Coal remains a central mechanism in America's and the world's economic energy machines. It is safe to say that coal will continue to be the world's low-cost fuel of choice for decades to come. But we must also recognize that coal's full potential - in this country and globally - will be achieved only if the technology is developed to make coal an environmental fuel-of-choice.

I believe we have the tools to make that happen. I am here this evening to underscore our continued commitment to coal's future.

I wanted to bring that message to this group specifically because nowhere else will I find - in one room - a more concentrated collection of people who hold coal's future in their hands. I want you to leave this conference with a new mandate...a new commitment.

Today, we're looking at more stringent air regulations, and we are seeing more and more vividly the impact that greenhouse gases have on our environment. We have addressed the regional challenge of acid rain. Now, we're facing a challenge that is similar in concept, but far, far different in scope.

Today, the major challenge confronting coal - global climate change - knows no national boundaries. The challenge facing America is the same as that which faces China, Mexico, India, and every nation - and every citizen - in-between.

But as I said, the challenge today is similar in concept. Like the commitment we made in the 1980s, today we must again "expand the menu of options." And again, as in the 1980s, a greater number of technological options will make future policy decisions much easier.

Since the time global warming appeared on the world's agenda, the two predominant options for reducing greenhouse gases have been to:

• use energy more efficiently, and
• increase our use of low-carbon and carbon-free fuels (for example through the greater use of renewable technologies).

I'm here tonight to tell you that we are not going to step away from either of those options. Alternative energy sources like solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal will have a growing role in our energy portfolio. We will have to learn to use energy more efficiently.

But there is an extremely important third option to our climate change strategy. I believe we can - and should - look to new coal-based technologies and new ways to capture and control the release of carbon. This should become another option in our "menu" for future greenhouse gas controls.

At the Department of Energy, we believe it is possible to develop a virtually pollution-free, coal-fired power plant within the next 15 years or so. No air pollutants. No landfill wastes. A plant that doubles the amount of electricity we can currently extract from coal and produces other commercial products as well.

As a matter of fact, the technology being developed over in Kingsport -- one of the major successes from the 40 projects -- might be the model on which we will base our liquid fuels and chemical production.

We call the concept "the Vision 21 EnergyPlex," and we've increased research and development funding on this plan to $29 million dollars in FY2000.

"Vision 21" starts us down the final path of making coal part of tomorrow's solution. But it doesn't get us all the way there. To do that, I believe we need to add to the clean coal "menu" a new commitment to develop carbon sequestration - the potential to capture and dispose of carbon.

Coupled with higher-efficiency power plants, carbon sequestration may offer a way to achieve truly massive reductions in carbon levels at relatively low costs. And the federal government is backing this technology as a possible real option to the problem: working with the Departments of Interior, Agriculture, EPA, and others.

Carbon sequestration offers us one major advantage over other climate change options: it doesn't require wholesale changes in the world's energy infrastructure.

The major advantage of our world's present energy system - one based largely on fossil fuels - is quite simply that it works. It is relatively low cost. It uses low-cost and globally abundant resources.

But in the United States and many other countries, our energy infrastructure didn't come easy. It represents a huge capital investment - an architecture that will not be discarded overnight. With carbon sequestration, it won't have to.

So let's put Kyoto aside, and look at the really long term - 30, 50 or 70 years into the future. Carbon sequestration could offer one of the best options for reducing the buildup of greenhouse gases, not only in this country but in China, India and elsewhere.

Sequestration could be the single most important factor in the truly long-range future of coal and, in fact, for all of fossil fuels. It makes coal part of the energy answer, rather than part of the environmental problem.

We're on the drawing board today on carbon sequestration -- just as we were two decades ago with clean coal technologies. Now is the time that partnerships begin to form. Now is the time when we look for the best ideas and worry about proprietary interests later.

That is the third reason I wanted to speak to this group in particular. You understand how to make partnerships work. Fifteen years ago, the Clean Coal Technology Program began as a partnership between government and industry. It was focused on a regional problem. Today, there is a new paradigm for collaboration. It must be global - because the challenge is global.

That is why I am here this evening to tell you that I have directed our staff at the Department of Energy to develop a long-range program that will encourage carbon sequestration research partnerships on a global basis. We will aggressively seek out new government-to-government agreements in carbon sequestration research. We will expand our industry and academic research into new concepts.

And in the future, when we offer Department of Energy cost-sharing for new sequestration projects, we will structure our competitions to encourage not only teaming between U.S. government, industry and academia, but teaming that extends across international borders.

We want to uncover the best ideas - no matter where they originate. It is too important to the future of coal - and to the long-term health and well being of the citizens of this planet - to do anything less.

Those of you in this room can expand the "menu of options" again. That is my challenge to you this evening. I make it because I am convinced that if we are successful, we can make the world's difficult policy decisions on controlling greenhouse gases easier and less expensive. And by doing so, we can help the community of nations to be better off.