Special interests debate likelihood of "clean coal" in Missouri

COLUMBIA — Missouri is more than 80 percent coal dependent — or sixth in the nation in coal use — according to the National Mining Association.

The combustion of coal adds more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere per unit of heat energy than does the combustion of other fossil fuels, according to a report published in 1994 by the Energy Information Administration.

So, what if there were a way to clean up coal?

The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, an organization that includes members of the coal industry, thinks carbon sequestration — or "clean coal" technology — is that way.

"Technology is an evolutionary thing," said Joe Lucas, senior vice president of communications for ACCCE. "It allows us to use coal in a responsible way."

Carbon sequestration involves capturing carbon dioxide emissions produced during coal combustion and permanently storing the gases underground.

But at least one risk assessment study found potential hazards from geological carbon sequestration. The study, conducted by the Berkeley Lab, found that "carbon sequestration will be neither perfectly effective nor risk free."

The National Energy Technology Lab describes carbon storage as two basic processes:

• Capturing CO2 emitted from power plants.
  
• Injecting and storing that carbon in underground formations, where it is monitored to ensure the gases remain underground permanently.

"When I was a kid, I was always told when you take something, you put it back where it came from," Lucas said. "That's what we're doing ... we're putting the coal back where it came from."

But opponents reject carbon capture and sequestration as a plausible alternative, citing possible ecological consequences.

The Berkeley study found that carbon capture and storage could potentially create economic, ecological and biological health-related hazards, including:

• "Injury, death or ecosystem damage caused by exposure to harmful levels of CO2;"
• "Damage to groundwater resources through direct contamination with CO2, or contamination by leaching of toxic material from surrounding rock, due to acidification of water by dissolved CO2;"

• "Damage to mineral resources through (a) contamination of natural gas or oil by CO2, (b) pressure‐induced migration of mobile fossil fuels in a way that complicates extraction or renders it infeasible, (c) sorption of CO2 into coal, or (d) alteration of economically important ores, minerals, gravels, etc., by CO2 or by acidified water;" and

• "Induced or enhanced seismicity due to increased fluid pressure deep underground."

The risks of these hazards cannot be completely determined; they depend upon the sites used for sequestration, pipeline technologies and operating practices to detect and fix leaks, the report stated.

Additionally, gradual leakage of stored CO2 could allow buildup in topographic depressions or enclosures like basements, the report stated.

In September, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that $12.7 million will fund 43 projects for geological sequestration training and research projects, according to its official Web site. Among those recipients is Missouri State University in Springfield.

In June, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 met approval in the U.S. House. The legislation seeks regulations on carbon capture and sequestration. While the debate over carbon sequestration has been recently revived as part of the discussion of "clean coal," the concept is not new.

Carbon dioxide, as well as other gases, has been injected into oil reservoirs in the earth for years, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Citing a 2006 assessment, the department said processes like that create pressure in the areas surrounding an oil reservoir and push dispersed oil back to the area under a production wellbore; this could potentially recover 89 billion barrels of stranded oil in 10 U.S. regions.

According to the same assessment, however, Missouri is not within one of the regions where stranded oil could be recovered.

National environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, have come out in strong opposition to "clean coal." Locally, Sierra Club members have protested the burning of coal in all forms at MU.  MU Assistant Professor of Geography Larry Brown spoke at a recent demonstration.

"Just two phrases I think need to be etched into our mind. One is, 'Coal is dirty, that's the bottom line,'" Brown said, followed by applause. "But the other is much more difficult because that means: 'Change of lifestyle.'"

Brown ended his speech with an impassioned call for alternative energy, citing wind and solar energy as distinct possibilities.

"We can get beyond (coal)," he said. "We can go through the withdrawal processes, go into the social therapy that we need to get off our coal addiction and find something else that in the long run is far more healthful to our life, to the ecology of the planet and also in terms of our economy."

In an interview after the event, Brown said that, as a geologist, he is worried about the damaging effects of coal on the earth.

Chelsea Maltagliati, an MU junior and member of the Mizzou College Republicans, attended the event where Brown spoke. She said she was concerned about the economic impact of taxing carbon emissions.

"People say they don't want coal, but they don't offer any solution other than solar panels and wind energy, which in theory sounds great," she said. 

Maltagliati disagreed with the taxes outlined in the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 — or Waxman-Markey bill — which mandates that greenhouse gas emissions be reduced by 17 percent by 2020.

The bill has been set aside during Congress' health care reform debate and has yet to reach the Senate. If that happens, it could be a tug-of-war between economy and ecology.