Whitfield Defends KY Coal at Congressional Hearing | News | Congressman Ed Whitfield

News | Congressman Ed Whitfield | United States Representative

Whitfield Defends KY Coal at Congressional Hearing June 26, 2008 WASHINGTON - A long time advocate of Kentucky coal, U.S. Representative Ed Whitfield (KY-01) fought to protect the role of coal in electricity generation today at a congressional hearing on climate change. Whitfield championed the responsible use of the resource as essential to providing cheap and abundant electricity for consumers, critical to reducing our dependence on foreign oil and vital to the local economies of the First Congressional District.

"Far too often when we talk about climate change, coal becomes the punching bag with the presumption that this vital energy source is dirty," Whitfield said. "In my view, this is simply unacceptable given that coal is our nation's most abundant natural resource and there are technologies available to produce electricity and other fuel using clean coal technology, which has been proven to significantly reduce carbon emissions in coal."

Whitfield participated in a hearing held today by the House Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality entitled "Climate Change: Costs of Inaction." The hearing examined what would happen if carbon emissions were not reduced. Whitfield acknowledged the potential cost of not enacting measures to curb emissions, but was steadfast in his resolve that coal remain a part of the nation's energy portfolio.

Whitfield noted the tremendous impact coal has on the national economy as well as the large role the resource plays in providing energy throughout the country and in Kentucky in particular. Coal provides fuel for over 50 percent of all electricity in the country and over 90 percent in Kentucky. Today, the United States possesses enough coal to power the nation for the next 250 years.

"The development of clean coal technologies is at the forefront of reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil," Whitfield said. "It is imperative that the United States continue to explore, develop and utilize methods in which coal is used to produce energy instead of failing to tap our cheapest and most abundant commodity."

Earlier this month, Whitfield joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers to introduce legislation which would advance the development and deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies. The legislation would establish a $1 billion annual fund, derived from fees on the generation of electricity from coal, oil and natural gas. Grants from the fund will be awarded to large-scale projects advancing the commercial availability of CCS technology. CCS is a method of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by capturing and injecting underground the carbon dioxide emitted from electricity generation plants that use fossil fuels.

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