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August 22, 2010

Energy department agrees there's no alternative to coal

Anonymous Associated Press Sun Aug 22, 2010, 06:00 AM EDT

ASHLAND — Lest there be any doubt, the U.S. Department of Energy has made it official: Despite all the talk and grandiose plans about the future of electricity generated by nuclear power, windmills, natural gas, solar rays and other “alternative” sources of energy, coal will continue to be the primary source of electrical power generation in this country for the forseeable future.

More than half of the nation’s electricity comes from coal and, the Department of Energy says, that is not about to change. The DOE says there are three major reasons for this:

(1) There still is a lot of coal available in this country, with much of it being buried in the hills of eastern Kentucky and western West Virginia.

(2) Coal remains relatively inexpensive.

(3) Unlike oil, wind and solar, the supply of coal is not prone to interruption, nor are we dependent on foreign countries to keep us in coal.

Hydropower is the only renewable energy capable of producing nearly as much electricity as coal does. When hydropower is removed from the equation, coal produces 20 times the electricity that all other renewable fuels combined. That’s why the Associated Press reports that 16 coal-fired power plants have been completed since 2008 and 16 others are under construction. More, including a controversial one proposed by East Kentucky Power, are actively seeking permits to begin construction.

Certainly, coal has its problems. We need to develop cleaner ways to burn it and better, more environmentally responsible ways to mine it without permanently altering the landscape of this region and burying hundreds of miles of streams. Unfortunately, the goal of “clean coal” remains elusive.

But the DOE predicts the efficiency of coal-fired plants will nearly double in the next 10 to 15 years, making coal an even more attractive source of power. The industry seems to doubt that capability will ever catch up. The Obama administration directed $3.4 billion in stimulus money to spur construction of clean-coal plants yet, as the AP points out, "new investments in traditional coal plants total at least 10 times that amount — more than $35 billion."

Anti-coal elements in the U.S. Congress also threaten the future of coal, particularly if legislation is enacted to place serious limits on carbon emissions through extensive regulation or by financial penalties like cap and trade or a carbon tax.

But even an Energy Department in an administration headed by an environmentalist like Barack Obama recognizes that coal will continue to provide our electricity if for no other reason than there is no other viable alternative barring technological breakthroughs or a thoroughly unexpected willingness of the public to pay greatly higher rates for electricity.

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Editorials

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Energy department agrees there's no alternative to coal

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