President Obama Says Clean Coal is Necessary

[Nathanael]

In an impromptu conversation at a benefit last night, President Obama said that renewable, in particular wind and solar, technology is nowhere near being capable of supplying the U.S. energy demand--20 years away. And, he once again throws his weight behind clean coal. The president saying it can bridge the gap to renewables and stating it needs to be developed.

Check out the article and video at: http://www.energyboom.com/emerging/president-obama-says-clean-coal-necessary

[msongs]

1. lol change you can believe in takes a hit once again. nt

[DURHAM D]

2. Not really - he made this position clear during the campaign.

Change would be if he stopped promoting "clean coal".

[Nathanael]

3. No Doubt

That part that stings is that he says his support for clean coal is purely technological and not political.

[DURHAM D]

5. oh sure - I guess the technical term is EXELON.

Illinois based company that stuffed money in Obama's pockets from day one.

[kristopher]

10. I don't think they were keen on ending Yucca Mt.

[NYC_SKP]

8. Regardless of the forum, you take entirely too much pleasure in finding fault in Obama.

It's really embarrassing and tiresome.

[Jamastiene]

4. Coal was once used extensively in the neighborhood where Iive.

There is nothing clean about it. It's not clean in its standard form. It is not clean when it's burning and it certainly is not clean afterward. :wow:

[earthside]

6. I don't know about the 'clean' part, but ....

... coal is necessary.

There's no way that solar and wind can replace the fifty percent of electricity that coal generates.

We're far away from the conservation necessary to end our reliance on massive amounts of coal. Furthermore, the U.S. has the fastest growing population of any developed nation, more and more people living here expecting the lifestyle that results in the carbon footprint of the average American means even more coal is going to have to be burned.

But, with all the resulting mercury in our food, we'll all become so stupid that we won't care, right?

[kristopher]

9. Wind and solar can replace coal. The sooner we make that the goal, the sooner it will be done.

He is giving strong support to the move towards a renewable grid but there are two realities at work that he is accommodating.

First is the power of the Blue Dogs. There is little choice but to appease them by giving some money to the coal and nuclear lobbies.

Second is the point he raises - a build out of renewables is going to take a couple of decades under the best realistic scenarios.During that time the coal plants both here and abroad are going to be burning coal. If we can come up with a workable technology to diminish their impact it will help. It isn't an optimum use of funding because the money would have be more effective if spent on efficiency, conservation and renewables.
Since that doesn't seem to be a political possibility the best alternative is to 1) give in to the political blackmail continue "research" on CCS (such as he is proposing) while funding nuclear at a level that helps maintain their existing level of generation. Concurrently slash subsidies in the area of operations for fossil companies, and put stimulus and job funds towards renewable generation, expanded transmission and smart grid infrastructure projects.

If we had the usual level of cooperation from centrist Republicans like Lindsey Grahm and McCain, who have supported cap and trade in the past, things might be different.

Blaming Obama for the reality of the Blue Dogs and a psychotic Republican minority is asinine.

[NNadir]

7. He's wrong.

[OKIsItJustMe]

11. Presidential Memorandum -- A Comprehensive Federal Strategy on Carbon Capture and Storage

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/presidential-memorandum-a-comprehensive-federal-strategy-carbon-capture-and-storage

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release February 03, 2010
Presidential Memorandum -- A Comprehensive Federal Strategy on Carbon Capture and Storage

...

SUBJECT: A Comprehensive Federal Strategy on Carbon
Capture and Storage

For decades, the coal industry has supported quality high-paying jobs for American workers, and coal has provided an important domestic source of reliable, affordable energy. At the same time, coal-fired power plants are the largest contributor to U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and coal accounts for 40 percent of global emissions. Charting a path toward clean coal is essential to achieving my Administration's goals of providing clean energy, supporting American jobs, and reducing emissions of carbon pollution. Rapid commercial development and deployment of clean coal technologies, particularly carbon capture and storage (CCS), will help position the United States as a leader in the global clean energy race.

My Administration is already pursuing a set of concrete initiatives to speed the commercial development of safe, affordable, and broadly deployable CCS technologies. We have made the largest Government investment in carbon capture and storage of any nation in history, and these investments are being matched by private capital. The Department of Energy is conducting a comprehensive clean coal technology program including research, development, and demonstration of CCS technologies and is pursuing important international cooperative initiatives to spur demonstration and deployment of CCS. The Environmental Protection Agency is developing regulations that address the safety, efficacy, and environmental soundness of injecting and storing carbon dioxide underground. The Department of the Interior is assessing, in coordination with the Department of Energy, the country's geologic capacity to store carbon dioxide and promoting geological storage demonstration projects on public lands. All of this work builds on the firm scientific basis that now exists for the viability of CCS technology.

To further this work and develop a comprehensive and coordinated Federal strategy to speed the commercial development and deployment of clean coal technologies, I hereby establish an Interagency Task Force on Carbon Capture and Storage (Task Force). You shall each designate a senior official from your respective agency to serve on the Task Force, which shall be Co Chaired by the designees from the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency.

The Task Force shall develop within 180 days of the date of this memorandum a proposed plan to overcome the barriers to the widespread, cost-effective deployment of CCS within 10 years, with a goal of bringing 5 to 10 commercial demonstration projects online by 2016. The plan should explore incentives for commercial CCS adoption and address any financial, economic, technological, legal, institutional, social, or other barriers to deployment. The Task Force should consider how best to coordinate existing administrative authorities and programs, including those that build international collaboration on CCS, as well as identify areas where additional administrative authority may be necessary. The Co Chairs shall report progress periodically to the President through the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality.

...

[bhikkhu]

12. necessary because we suck at conservation

is what the thing should read. If you want to continually consume more and more and have it stay cheap and easy, you have to burn coal because its the cheapest and most abundant fuel source.

If you conserve and consume less, you don't need to keep building more power plants and ramping up the non-renewable fossil fuel consumption. In any case, the faster you burn it the faster its gone, then the shit really hits the fan.