May 22 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Bill Archer Bluefield Daily Telegraph, W.Va.

The U.S. Department of Energy has taken another significant step in its on-going efforts to develop a process to store carbon dioxide in unmineable coal seams. The DOE is providing an additional $1.8 million grant to Virginia Tech's Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research to aid in the center's research into the feasibility of storing CO2 safely in coal seams, according to a press release from U.S. Rep. Frederick C. "Rick" Boucher, D-Va.

"Coal has a great capacity to store CO2 and injecting CO2 into coal seams increases the production of methane while the coal captures the carbon dioxide," Boucher was quoted as stating in the press release. "The ongoing research in Southwest Virginia will enhance our region's economic development opportunities, making our region more attractive to industries requiring the use of carbon capture storage technologies, such as coal to liquids conversion facilities or biofuels plants."

State Senator Phillip P. Puckett, D-Russell has had a front row seat to watch developments of this vital new technology. "This program is a step in the right direction for the future of coal in meeting the nation's future energy needs," Puckett said. "Coal is still this nation's leading source of energy, and carbon sequestration is a safe way to store some of the harmful byproducts of burning coal.

"We've got to do it," he said. "That's the only way we can reduce our dependence on foreign oil. We have more coal reserves than the Middle East has oil reserves. There is a challenge to cleaning the byproducts from burning coal, but we can do it safely. When we established this nation, our forefathers encountered challenges every step of the way. We met those challenges because we, as a nation, refused to give up.

"I think a lot of people became active in the political process in the 1960s because they bought into President (John F.) Kennedy's dream," Puckett said. "He laid the dream out that we could reach the moon within a decade, and we made it there, even though he didn't live to see that dream. We've got to use coal to fuel the dreams of our future. But we can't do it when we have to argue with people who believe that we shouldn't take coal out of the ground in the first place."

Puckett said that the carbon sequestration project is "an effort on behalf of all of those who believe that coal is the energy of the future," Puckett said.

The DOE has committed a total of $6.35 million to the center since 2004, including a $150,000 grant to study the concept, $4.4 million for a small scale test project that will involve a 1,000-ton CO2 injection at a Russell County site in January of 2009. The grant Boucher announced on Wednesday will provide funds to plan a larger, 100,000 ton test in 2011 and 2017, at a total DOE investment of $60 million.

Boucher stated that when the project is completed, it will advance the process, "to make carbon capture and storage technology widely commercially available," according to the press release. Dominion Virginia Power and Eastman Chemical Co., have joined the center in providing financial resources and services for the project.

-- Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com