The King Is Dead - Long Live The King!

Earlier this week, the Kansas Department of Health and the Environment denied a proposed permit for the Sunflower Power Plant, citing the emission of uncontrolled CO2 as the primary reason.  Other permits and proposed permits for coal-fired generation facilities are under siege.  The PSD permit for the Bonanza waste coal unit in Utah is not only being appealed to the Environmental Appeals Board, but is the subject of much verbiage in certain congressional offices.  Senator Reid has announced his steadfast opposition to new coal-fired generation, including two major plants in his home state of Nevada.  The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has declared its intention not to allow a third coal-fired unit at the Intermountain Power Plant in western Utah (which is operated by LADWP), citing the need for the land and facilities to be used for future unspecified renewable energy projects.  California is busily developing the rules to implement its ban on imports of new coal-generated electricity. The mayor of Salt Lake City has been appearing with local rock bands, singing original compositions about the evils of coal.  And that’s just in the West. 

What is lost in all this arm-waving (which arguably makes its own significant contribution to global warming in the form of hot air) is the reality that without coal, Americans would not enjoy a quality of life that is the envy of the world.  Fifty percent of our electrical energy comes from coal, and we have more energy in recoverable domestic coal reserves than the Saudis have in oil.  In some areas of the country, coal accounts for the overwhelming majority of electricity. 

So, what about the fact that coal has a higher proportion of CO2 emissions per unit of energy than other fossil fuels?  Are we going to drive a stake into the heart of Old King Coal and hope that the wind will blow enough and the sun will shine enough to make up the difference?  Unfortunately, there are policymakers who believe that all we need to do is put up more windmills and change out a few more light bulbs and suddenly we are in a carbon-free economy.  But like so much in life (relationships, living within one’s means, and the “War on Terror”), things are not that simple. 

Coal is an ideal base load fuel.  Coal can be burned when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine.  It is abundant and, unlike natural gas, not subject to price volatility and, when used in electric generation plants, does not affect the cost of heating our homes.  Plus, we have so much coal in the ground that the likelihood of importing coal from areas of the world hostile to us is pretty remote. 

To be sure, coal has had its share of environmental challenges.  SO2 from coal plants has been a major cause of acid rain.  NOx is a major contributor to ozone.  Fine particulate matter in the form of sulfates, nitrates and fly ash do no good to one’s lungs.  Yet coal has been able to deal with each of these issues through ingenuity, capital and common-sense regulation. 

The Acid Rain Program of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments has resulted in dramatic reductions in SO2 from coal plants.  The Regional NOx Trading Program in the eastern half of the United States, combined with EPA’s decade-old enforcement initiative directed at old, uncontrolled plants, is fulfilling the intent of the 1970 Clean Air Act to roll over the fleet of coal plants into new and retrofitted cleaner-burning facilities.  And great advances in baghouse technology, combined with stringent federal and state regulatory requirements, have greatly reduced particulate matter from coal. 

The same will happen with CO2 from coal.  It will take a few years and a lot of money, but the day will come when the carbon will be left behind as the energy is produced in a coal-based generation plant.  It may be that the CO2 will be stripped from the flue gas and shipped to a long-term geologic sequestration facility.  Perhaps the coal will be transformed into a liquid or gaseous fuel which will generate much less CO2 per unit of energy.  Genetically enhanced algae may absorb the CO2 and sequester the carbon in biomass.  Or, there may be some technology for carbon removal that is currently just a gleam in the eye of a bright, hard-working scientist. 

Renewable energy, energy-efficient buildings and appliances, and conservation are all critical to a carbon-constrained future.  But so is coal.  Whether a carbon-constrained future presents our children and grandchildren with the same economic and life-enhancing experiences we enjoy will likely be because of, not in spite of, coal. 

Let’s not kill the king.

(Contributed by Jim Holtkamp, Environmental Compliance Attorney in the Salt Lake City Office)