Create West Virginia

The Questions, My Friend?

On June 23, 2008, I posted an article called, “The Answer, My Friend?”  Its focus was wind energy as an alternative to mountain top removal mining.  Obviously, the title winks and tips its hat to Dylan; but it also paved the way for today’s post, “The Questions, My Friend?” 

Ken Ward writes in the Gazette today about the coal forum event engaging wind energy advocates and the coal industry:  “Dueling campaigns like the Coal Forum and the Coal River Wind Project offer competing views not just of the answers to the nation's energy problems, but conflicting ideas of what the questions themselves should be.”

Ward is right on the money.  Continued wrangling about the same old questions is intellectually and practically bankrupt.  New frameworks and fresh questions are necessary to propel West Virginians and the nation into the kind of innovation and problem solving necessary in the face of the 21^st century crucible of energy, environment, and economy.

Is it time to get serious about reforming the coal industry, or is it time to get serious about abandoning it for alternatives?  Or neither?  What are the short and long term consequences of the many different directions available to us?  Create West Virginia is committed to bringing open, honest dialogue to bear on these questions.  That is the dynamic we want to strike at the annual conference in October (see www.createwv.com for registration).  There will be a special breakout session on these questions and more, featuring top representatives of both the coal industry and of alternative energy.

It is going to take all of us to establish the right questions, and then to answer them with integrity and vision.  We hope you will come to conference ready to help rebuild the conversation about West Virginia’s future in these areas.  Please also post your thoughts here!

Posted by: Elizabeth Damewood Gaucher

http://www.wvgazette.com/News/200808181550

Coal-to-Liquid, Greenhouse Gases...Discuss

Yesterday, many were celebrating the announcement of plans for a new coal-to-liquid plant to be built by CONSOL Energy in Marshall County. Ironically, on the same day, the West Virginia Environmental Council told the WV State Legislature that coal-to-gas conversion is an inefficient way to produce fuel, requiring 2 million BTUs of energy to produce 1 million BTUs of gasoline.

So should we be happy or sad today?

It's clearly a welcome sign for the coal industry and its longtime advocacy of coal-to-liquid as a path towards energy independence. Construction on the plant could start in about a year if the needed permits are acquired. The project would then take about two years to complete.

Industry officials stated, "This is not a science experiment. We can clearly convert West Virginia's resources into fuel for transportation. We know how to do it cleanly and efficiently."

Others aren't so sure. In a Charleston Gazette article: "Even under the best conditions - let's say they could capture all of their carbon emissions - it would still exceed the emissions of today's gasoline," said Patricia Monahan, deputy director for clean vehicles at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

It's sort of difficult to decide how to feel about this one. One thing is for sure, if the coal industry could convince more environmentalists of just how "clean" they can make coal-based energy, and if the coal could be extracted in less violent ways that aren't as disruptive to mountains, forests and communities, it would be a much clearer win for the region.

For now, we point to a quote by George Lois that we cling to at Create WV: ""Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything." Here's hoping both energy independence and earth-friendly technologies can be achieved so that West Virginia can truly become an energy leader for the future while continuing to build our "quality of place".