Gov. Joe Manchin addresses CTL conference

by: Clem Guttata

Mon Mar 30, 2009 at 15:41:44 PM EDT

West Virginia, Wyoming governors tout domestic fuels at world CTL conference

Leading coal, energy and project developers from around the world gathered in Washington, D.C, this month for the World CTL 2009 Conference.

The conference, held March 25-27, explored the latest developments in coal-to-liquid (CTL) fuel technology, including new environmental improvement techniques and the status of CTL plant construction around the world.

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin (D) and Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D) headlined the distinguished roster of public and private sector representatives who spoke at the conference.

Manchin opened the conference by telling delegates that he had recently met with senior White House and Obama Administration staff to discuss a number of key coal issues, including stressing how domestic CTL fuels can boost U.S. energy security.

Noting that the U.S. is home to a quarter of the world's coal reserves, Manchin highlighted the energy security and economic benefits of coal-based transportation fuels, adding that "turning our back on coal would be catastrophic."

Manchin also stressed that new technologies are coming online that can further improve the environmental performance of CTL plants and fuels.

Fruedenthal, in a March 26 luncheon address, also touted the environmental benefits of CTL fuels, noting that such fuels can emit far less carbon dioxide than the imported fuels they would replace.

In addition, Freudenthal also detailed efforts his state has undertaken to implement ground-breaking rules regulating the underground storage of carbon dioxide.

Not part of his formal comments--but still part of his overall message to the CTL conference--there's also Gov. Manchin's biography provided for World CTL conference attendees. In part, it reads:

Governor Manchin has set the year 2030 as the state's goal for independence from foreign energy sources. He is helping to steer the state in that direction, encouraging the expansion of new technology to make better use of the state's massive coal reserves. He also is an advocate for conservation, and for harnessing the state's other energy resources, including natural gas and the renewable sources of wind, solar, hydro and biomass.

In late-2007, Gov. Manchin traveled to China to explore that country's growing coal-related industries and to learn more about coal-to-liquids development in Asia. The governor is committed to seeing modern CTL technology developed in his home state.

Background

Coal to liquid (CTL) is the most prominent "clean coal" technology under development. Wikipedia offers a good summary of CTL technology. It ends thus:

All of these liquid fuel production methods release carbon dioxide (CO2) in the conversion process, far more than is released in the extraction and refinement of liquid fuel production from petroleum. If these methods were adopted to replace declining petroleum supplies, carbon dioxide emissions would be greatly increased on a global scale.

For future liquefaction projects, Carbon dioxide sequestration is proposed to avoid releasing it into the atmosphere, though no pilot projects have confirmed the feasibility of this approach on a wide scale. As CO2 is one of the process streams, sequestration is easier than from flue gases produced in combustion of coal with air, where CO2 is diluted by nitrogen and other gases.

Sequestration will, however, add to the cost.

The FutureGen project canceled by the Bush administration was a high-profile DOE funded project testing both CTL and CCS technologies. While in Congress, Obama had been a strong proponent of CTL fuels, including serving as the Democratic leader of the Senate CTL Fuel Caucus.