Published: May 29, 2009 08:59 pm      

Protecting coal, environment

Boucher: ‘Intensive negotiations’ safeguard mining in legislation

ABINGDON, Va. — Federal legislation regulating greenhouse gas emissions is now heading to the full House and Senate, U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va. said Friday.

Boucher made a stop Friday afternoon at the Virginia Highlands Airport in Abingdon to update reporters on the status on the greenhouse gas control legislation recently approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Boucher said provisions in the federal legislation will secure and protect thousands of jobs in the region provided by coal.

“Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce approved legislation regulating greenhouse gas emissions,” Boucher said in a press release. “I supported approval of the measure because I believe the regulation to be necessary and because I believe that under its provisions the coal industry and the thousands of jobs in our region that coal provides will be secure.”

Boucher said a regulation of greenhouse gas emissions by the federal government is inevitable.

“The Supreme Court has declared that carbon dioxide is a pollutant, and under that holding as a practical matter the Environmental Protection Agency is now required to regulate carbon dioxide emissions,” he said. “The EPA is now preparing its own regulatory program. Our legislation will supersede the EPA's effort and preempt the EPA from regulating CO2 in any manner inconsistent with the provisions of the legislation. Virtually all interested parties, from the business community to environmental groups would prefer to have the regulation written by Congress than by EPA.”

Boucher said he has had “intensive negotiations” with House Energy and Commerce Commission Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif. in recent weeks with a focus on protecting the coal industry and local jobs provided by the coal industry.

“As a result of those negotiations, the bill approved by the committee contains key provisions which I had recommended to protect the coal industry, coal related jobs and to keep electricity prices affordable in regions such as Southwest Virginia where most of our electricity is produced by burning coal,” Boucher said.

Boucher said his proposal to provide assured federal funding of $1 billion annually for the rapid development of carbon dioxide capture and sequestration technologies has been included in the legislation. “Over a 10-year period, the $10 billion which this fund will produce, according to expert observation, will provide available, affordable and reliable carbon dioxide separation and storage technologies by 2020,” Boucher said. “These technologies will enable coal to be burned by power plants without emitting carbon dioxide, and their arrival will assure that coal will continue to be America's primary fuel for electricity generation.”

Boucher said he also asked for a special fund of between $75 billion and $100 billion — with the exact value to be determined by current emission allowance prices at the time — to assist with the cost of deploying carbon capture and sequestration technologies as they become available. The fund requested by Boucher also was included in the legislation.

“Essential to my support of the legislation was a third recommendation under which emission allowances be provided for free to the emitting entities rather than requiring that the allowances be purchased by them at government-sponsored auctions,” Boucher said. “Free allowances reduce the overall cost of the program helping to secure the role for coal and helping to keep electricity prices affordable in regions such as ours where most of the electricity is coal fired. That provision is also a part of the legislation approved by the committee”.

Boucher also sought to enable electric utilities to continue using coal while reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the time between the effective date of the law and 2020 when it is anticipated carbon capture and sequestration technologies will be available. Boucher said the legislation also contains his recommendation that 2 million tons of carbon dioxide offsets be made available for purchase by emitters each year.”