ilovemountains - End Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining

Supporting coal-to-liquid technology would be a disaster for the mountains and people of Appalachia!

We're making progress toward stopping mountaintop removal coal mining, but we need to ensure that Congress doesn't pass a bad energy bill that would increase America's consumption of dirty coal. And right now, Congress is doing just that as it considers several bills that would offer BILLIONS of dollars in tax breaks and subsidies to promote the conversion of coal into liquid form for use as transportation fuel and chemicals.

How You Can Help
Please call and email your Senators and Congressperson right now (Congressional Switchboard: (202) 224-3121). Tell them to VOTE AGAINST ANY BILL that promotes liquid coal. Points to consider are:

Subsidizing liquid coal technology would dramatically increase the need for coal mined by mountaintop removal. To replace only 10 percent of our nation's transportation fuels with liquid coal would require a 40 percent increase in coal mining throughout the United States.
The process of converting coal-to-liquids requires so much energy that it produces almost double the global warming emissions as regular gasoline. In fact, one ton of coal yields just two barrels of fuel. In terms of emmissions, its like turning a hybrid car into a Hummer.
Billions in taxpayer dollars would be better spent supporting conservation and efficiency measures to secure US energy independence.
This is a national issue. Supporting coal-to-liquid technology would be a disaster for the mountains of Appalachia and for the entire world.

November 22, 2009

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Many thousands of people around the USA are taking the time to tell their representatives in Washington that subsidizing new coal-to-liquid technology and infrastructure is a bad idea. Because of continued pressure from letters like this, not a single coal-to-liquid subsidy bill has made it out of the Senate sub-committees!

An article written in Casper, Wyoming's Star-Tribune summarizes it well:

Senate rejects coal-liquids plans
- By Noelle Straub

WASHINGTON - Friday, June 22, 2007 The Senate on Tuesday defeated two coal-to-liquids measures, one pushed by Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and the other similar to legislation promoted by the late Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo.

The Tester amendment to the energy bill on the Senate floor would have provided up to $200 million in grant money and $10 billion in direct loans for coal gasification projects.

The projects would have been required to have annual lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions at least 20 percent lower than conventional plants' emissions and to have captured and stored at least 75 percent of carbon dioxide that would otherwise be released to the atmosphere.

The amendment was voted down 33-61. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., voted in favor; Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., voted against it.

. . .

Read the entire article here.

Here is a list of bills that would subsidize coal-to-liquid technology (updated June 13th, 2007):

House Bill # Title

H.R. 370 Coal-to-Liquid Fuel Promotion Act of 2007

H.R. 683 Investment in Energy Independence Act of 2006

H.R. 1300 Program for Real Energy Security Act

H.R. 2208 Coal Liquid Fuel Act

H.R. 2354 American Fuels Act of 2007

Senate Bill # Title

S. 133 American Fuels Act of 2007

S. 154 Coal-to-Liquid Fuel Energy Act of 2007

S. 155 Coal-to-Liquid Fuel Energy Act of 2007

S. 1158 Alternative Fuel Standard Act of 2007

S. 1503 Gas Petroleum Refiner Improvement and Community Empowerment Act

The Washington Post also published an article summarizing the situation on Wednesday, June 13th, 2007:

A group of Senate Democrats from coal-rich states is drafting an amendment to proposed energy legislation that would provide as much as $10 billion in federal loans to pay for capturing and storing greenhouse gases produced by plants that would turn coal into liquid transportation fuels or chemicals.

Concerned about the growing likelihood that a majority of senators will back a coal-to-liquids program to satisfy the powerful coal industry and to reduce U.S. reliance on oil imports, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) has pressed colleagues to ensure that such a program would address not only energy security, but also climate change concerns.

Bingaman, who opposed a coal-to-liquids measure that Republicans proposed in committee, "has been very clear that he is unwilling to look at one without looking at the other," a committee spokesman said.

Environmental groups oppose coal-to-liquids programs because, they say, such technology produces twice as much greenhouse gas as conventional petroleum-based motor fuels, and because they say it would greatly expand destructive coal mining.

Click here to read the entire article.