Oct 7 - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - Adam Wilmoth The Daily Oklahoman

Soaring energy prices over the past few years have led to an increased focus on new energy sources, but they also are driving many of the country's power plant operators back to coal and other more traditional fuels.

Western Farmers Electric Cooperative is one of the leaders in the trend with its recent decision to build a 750-megawatt coal-fired power plant near Hugo. The utility and its partner, Brazos Electric Power Cooperative of Waco, Texas, are currently in the permitting process and expect to have the plant operational by 2011.

"Coal is just so much less expensive than other power sources that we believe it is the best choice for our members," said Gerald Butcher, Western Farmers' senior environmental coordinator.

As one of the country's most abundant resources, coal long has been used in electricity generation. Over the past decade or so, however, many power plant operators have moved away from the so-called "dirty" fuel in favor of more environmentally friendly power sources such as natural gas.

Historically, the cost of natural gas has been fairly comparable to coal. But while the price of natural gas has soared more than four-fold over the past five years, coal prices have held much more constant.

While the emerging focus back on coal could have negative consequences for the environment, Oklahoma Energy Secretary David Fleischaker said, it also could be beneficial in the long-run.

"Coal is a force," said Fleischaker, who was formerly an environmental attorney in Washington. "The dark side is it is by far the most polluting hydrocarbon we use. But our challenge is to develop clean coal technology, and we should spend the money necessary to do that."

The United States has been called the "Saudi Arabia of coal" because of the country's vast coal deposits. But besides the economic benefits of using coal, the development of coal technology also could lead to environmental gains, Fleischaker said

"There is no doubt that other countries -- particularly developing countries like China and India -- will be burning a lot of coal," he said. "We are probably the only country in the short-run that can develop clean-coal technology. So it is in everyone's benefit to develop technology and export that knowledge to other countries so they can clean up their processes as well."

Environmental groups, however, are skeptical even of the so-called "clean" coal.

"Saying a technology is clean does not make it clean," said Tom Libby, chairman of the Oklahoma chapter of the Sierra Club. "When the Bush administration is working to relax environmental safeguards on existing coal-fired power plants, and with one out of six women of childbearing age having dangerously high mercury levels as a result of pollution from coal-fired power plants, I think there's a great deal of concern about where we go from here."

Statistics vary widely as to how much pollution coal plants create. Operators and utility companies say coal fired electric plants are responsible for about 1 percent of the world's mercury pollution, while environmentalists attribute about one-third of the harmful substance to power plants.

Operators also point out that levels of nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide have been reduced in recent years, while environmentalists say even the lower levels are far too high.

Utilities also say technology is making coal much less damaging to the environment. According to a recent study of the state's coal power plants, Oklahoma's facilities release about 40 percent less sulfur dioxide than the national average, while nitrogen oxide emissions are about 3 percent higher.

Both levels have dropped significantly over the past decade, said Bob Delano, president of Oklahoma City's Environmental Assessments Group Inc. and author of the study.

Besides regular improvements to the state's existing coal plants, Delano and Butcher said new plants such as the one proposed by Western Farmers will be far cleaner.

The Hugo plant will include select catalytic reduction equipment designed to remove much of the harmful elements from the plant's emissions. The process will eliminate about 96 percent of the sulfur and about 99 percent of the soot, they said.

Randy Eminger, south region vice president for the Center for Energy and Economic Development agreed that coal plants are making significant environmental improvements.

"In most cases, coal has more emissions than natural gas, but it's getting to the point where, if you build a new coal plant, it's almost as clean as natural gas," he said. "Virtually all the particulate matter and sulfur is eliminated."

Despite the gains, however, others say the industry still has far to go.

"You have to question how much is meant by 'almost,'" Libby said.