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Senate Climate Bill Softens Potential Blow to Coal Coal-state senators have worked to add coal-friendly provisions to the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, from delayed emissions standards to money for the development of CO2 capture and storage. The Senate bill calls for emissions reductions of 20 percent by 2020.
In a statement, Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., said he was “dedicated to helping craft a new energy policy that will ensure that America finds cleaner, more efficient ways to use her abundant, affordable coal resources for many, many years to come.”
Coal-friendly additions to the bill, according to the Charleston Gazette, include economic stimulus for CCS technology development, advance payments to “early actors” that install CCS technologies in their plants, and the postponement of emissions restrictions until CCS technologies are available on a commercial scale.
The coal industry is worried that the Senate bill’s reductions target is too ambitious and players are hoping for language that would give the industry additional time to develop and deploy CCS technologies. As those technologies are still in the early stages and are far from being commercially proven, many believe CCS will not prove an effective means of reducing CO2 emissions before 2020. The United Mine Workers testified before lawmakers that climate change legislation “represents the greatest threat to its membership and to the continued use of coal.” |
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