Carbon capture would create substantial challenges, witnesses say at energy hearing

Jul 17 - Bristol Herald Courier

By David McGee, Bristol Herald Courier, Va.

CARBON CAPTURE -- a key technology component of proposed federal regulations for coal-fired power plants -- doesn't yet exist and, if developed, would create substantial new challenges, energy industry leaders said Monday.

The evolving technology received significant attention during a U.S. House Subcommittee on Energy and Power field hearing at theSouthwestVirginiaHigherEducationCenter. Committee members heard testimony on the potential impact of proposed Environmental Protection Agency regulations that would require new coal plants to meet standards of emitting 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour of electricity produced, the same strict standards applied to natural gas-powered plants.

The EPA estimates that nearly all natural gas-fired power plants could meet the standard but coal plants would likely have to employ carbon capture and storage, a still-evolving technology of removing carbon dioxide from coal at the power plant and then storing it deep underground.

Officials from Dominion, Kentucky Utilities and Alpha Natural Resources questioned reliance on the unproven technology and the federal agency's motivation for proposing the new standards. The effects, utility officials said, would range from no new coal plants to possible closure of existing coal-fired plants and substantially higher electric rates.

"If this rule was in effect five years ago, we would not have been able to proceed with our plant and our $1.8 billion investment would not have occurred," said Thomas Farrell, chairman, president and CEO of Dominion, which just opened its new coal-fired plant inWiseCounty.

That plant is touted as the cleanest, most efficient in the nation but might not meet the proposed standards.

"There is no technology that would allow us to operate a [new] coal-fired plant in the near term," Farrell told the subcommittee. "If that comes, I would have significant doubt about it because why would financial institutions invest in a technology that isn't proven and is not going to be here in time for that 30-year flexibility that they [EPA] propose to allow us to do that? So we would not do that because we would need to add resources to meet customer demand with technologies that can achieve the standard. Coal will not be one of those in new units."

Kentucky Utilities and Louisville Gas & Electric, which serves 1.3 million customers inKentuckyandSouthwest Virginia, gets about 74 percent of its power from coal-fired plants, Vice President John Voyles said.

"I believe their [EPA] theory is you could permit a new plant but would have to have a functioning, commercially viable carbon capture technology removing the carbon down to this 1,000 pounds [limit] within 10 years. I guess the theory is to force the adoption of technology that does not yet exist," Voyles said.

If developed, the carbon capture technology raises other issues.

"Theoretically, it does perform as it has in some other industries," Voyles said. "But the question facing the country, I think, is what do you do with it after you capture it? Where do you store it? There are significant legal and property rights and all kinds of issues that have to be put into place that -- if you can capture it -- to put it somewhere."

Once injected deep underground, the carbon dioxide gas wouldn't remain in one place, but flow through rock formations, beneath waterways and across state lines, Voyles said.

Farrell said his company has also studied ways to transport carbon dioxide.

"You have to take the carbon from the plant to where you're going to store it. That would have to be done largely through a new pipeline," Farrell said. "Our company is also in the pipeline business. Those [natural gas] pipelines are not designed to handle carbon dioxide so you would have to have a new system or it would have to be removed by truck. It's another complicating factor in the legal-liability realm."

Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield, a Republican who representsKentucky's first congressional district, said widespread concerns over carbon capture and storage have been raised before.

"We sent a letter to EPA to ask this and their reply was the coal-fired plants simply would not meet this requirement without CCS. I don't know how you can walk away with any other conclusion except EPA wants to put the coal industry out of business," Whitfield said.

Paul Vining, president of Bristol-based Alpha Natural Resources, called the regulations a "regressive tax on every American" because forcing coal out of the electricity baseload equation would drive rates up.

During his testimony, business executiveJoe Street's voice cracked as he pondered his home county's future without coal.

"InBuchananCounty, we simply cannot afford to abandon coal," said Street, vice president of sales for a Buchanan County-based conveyor and machinery firm that serves the mining industry. "Although we've tried to diversify our economy with manufacturing jobs, the geographic location -- too far from the interstate -- and lack of flat land makes it nearly impossible. The population is so dependent on coal that if we were to abandon it, the only word to describeBuchananCountywould be devastation."

The hearing attracted a crowd of about 350, center officials said.

Before it began, about 50 EPA supporters held signs reading "EPA is good for us" and "Yes! EPA."

"I'm here because I believe we're being sold a bill of goods," said Peggy Mathews, of Dungannon. "We need clean energy."

Gene Rasor, of Emory, said the agency is doing its job.

"I'm here to support the EPA and its regulations," Rasor said. "I'm in agreement about global warming. There are different things happening due to man."

Inside, the tone was more political.

Committee member and Virginia U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-9th, said the best way to stop the proposed regulations would be to vote Democrats out of office in November.

In a written statement, Barbara Williamson of Abingdon, a Sierra Club volunteer, chastisedGriffith.

"Instead of standing up forVirginiafamilies, Morgan Griffith and his colleagues are defending a handful of coal executives by attacking critically important clean air safeguards that will protect the future of our planet and safeguard the health of American families."

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Proposed federal environmental regulations could further damage an already reeling coal industry, prompt electric rate increases and impact employment, witnesses told a Congressional subcommittee this morning.

Officials from Dominion, Kentucky Utilities, Alpha Natural Resources and three regional manufacturing firms were among those testifying during a field hearing for the U.S. House Subcommittee on Energy and Power.

"I would respectfully assert that now is simply not the time to handicap our own economic health for no discernable environmental gain while our international competitors continue to strive for prosperity," Paul Vining, president of Alpha told the subcommittee.

To read more about their comments and committee reaction, read Tuesday's Bristol Herald Courier.

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