Here is something interesting from Sen Bunning
Bunning Speaks On CTL At The University Of Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky
Thursday, October 11, 2007
As prepared for delivery:
Good morning. I’m very pleased to be with you all today at this important celebration.
The Center for Applied Energy Research at the University of Kentucky has a long history of innovation and success.
Researchers here have pioneered clean coal and coal-to-liquid technology and are the center of energy research in Kentucky.
I am also happy to see so many important speakers here today.
As you’ve already heard from Rocky Adkins, the commonwealth has engaged in this energy issue and is taking the steps necessary to help companies invest and hopefully put steel in the ground in Kentucky.
I also see that Ken Nemeth of the Southern States Energy Board will share his pioneering vision for American energy independence.
And you will get a firsthand account of the coal-to-liquid operations at the South African company SASOL.
You have all heard me discuss the promise of coal-to-liquid technology before, so I will instead give you the latest update from Congress.
As part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, I helped pass the alternative fuel tax credit which provides a 51 cent a gallon tax credit for biomass, coal, and hydrogen fuels.
The provision will expire in 2009.
Last week, the Senate Finance Committee released the tax title of the upcoming farm bill.
While it was full of incentives for renewable fuels – and many non-farm technologies –it had no mention of coal.
The Finance Committee planned to extend the renewable fuel portion of the alternative fuel tax credit until 2010, but let the coal-to-liquid part expire in 2009.
I found this unacceptable.
Working with my colleagues, I was able to develop a compromise to extend the provision with the rest of the alternative fuel tax credit until December 2010.
The issue with getting this extension was the environmental standard required for the tax incentive.
I think that using Kentucky coal to create transportation fuel – and anything else that helps America ease its dependence on middle eastern oil – is a good thing to pursue.
The only standard we need is that the fuel should be cleaner than existing fuels.
Other people in Washington, however, oppose using more coal and hide behind their calls for more rigorous environmental standards.
I have tried to convince my colleagues that coal technologies can and will be clean.
To do so, I agreed to the requirement that coal-to-liquid plants capture 50% of their carbon emissions and capture 75% on the day the tax credit expires.
While this standard may pose a technological challenge, it tells wall street that the federal government is serious about supporting coal-to-liquid technology.
And as Wall Street begins to finance these plants, they are going to look to our domestic research leaders to address the environmental challenges of coal.
I know that the men and women at the University of Kentucky will be ready to help them.
The research you do here will help address these new challenges and also dispel the inaccurate information that is used by coal opponents.
Many people unfamiliar with the industry believe the political attack ads from environmental groups and MoveOn.org saying that coal-to-liquids will produce twice as much carbon emissions as conventional gasoline.
This is not the case.
While those ads reference theoretical plants that do not consider the environment at all, there is not an investor in the country that would build a $6 billion facility without an environmental plan.
In fact, many of the companies designing plants in America today will co-fire with biomass or use carbon capture technology to significantly reduce emissions.
Looking at the possibilities of coal-to-liquid fuel, the cutting-edge research here at the University of Kentucky, the needs of the military for secure, domestic fuels, and the actions in the Senate last week, I believe the time is now for coal-to-liquids.
And with your help, Kentucky will be a pioneer of this technology.
Thank you for having me here and enjoy the rest of the day’s conference.
This is a very important issue for the future of the United States of America and your participation today shows your commitment to strengthening our nation.
I also would like thank the Center for Applied Energy Research here at the University of Kentucky for all its hard work the past thirty years.
Thank you.
