DOE: $64 Million In New "Clean Coal" Funding; "Like DOD Spending $1 Billion On Musket Technology"
Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette on Friday announced a $64 million dollar initiative to fund research and development for coal, giving an assist to an industry that appears to be on the decline.
Brouillette announced the so-called Coal FIRST initiative at an Atlantic Council event, saying that it was “going to help us produce more coal-based power more efficiently and transform it into a near-zero emissions energy source.” He particularly emphasized the idea of making coal plants smaller and more efficient, saying this would make it easier to make them cleaner.
"Coal as a percentage of U.S. electricity generation is declining," he added. "The efforts that we're undertaking is not to subsidize the industry and preserve their status ... as a larger electricity generator. It is simply to make the product cleaner and to look for alternative uses for this product."
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Mary Anne Hitt, the senior director of Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign, called the decision "ridiculous and wasteful" in a statement. "The DOE putting $64 million to research new ways to burn coal is like the Pentagon spending $1 billion for new ways to fire a musket ball," Hitt said.
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https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/482047-energy-secretary-announces-coal-research-initiative
= new reply since forum marked as read
