The Southern Illinoisan - Voice of the Southern: Don't Forget About Coal!

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Poor old coal. It takes a beating in some politically motivated circles, with the green crowd lambasting "dirty coal" and calling for the elimination of the black diamond as an energy source.

How foolish. It would be laughable if it weren't for the possibility of U.S. clean air standards being enacted too quickly and without the appropriate research and development funding for reachable clean-coal technologies. Coal generates 40 percent of the nation's electricity -- the largest percentage of any energy source -- and it cannot be quickly eliminated without disastrous results.

The rolling blackouts experienced on the East Coast during the recent heat wave won't be unusual if coal-supplied electricity is suddenly halted. Or limited to the East Coast. And to those encouraging a quick changeover from coal to natural gas as an energy source because of its lower costs and cleaner emissions, we add a note of caution.

It may be cleaner and cheaper now, but if we become overly dependent on natural gas, if it fills the 40 percent slice occupied by coal, there will come a time when supply tightens and prices skyrocket. And the time that might have been spent on researching, developing and implementing clean coal technologies will have been wasted.

It's a good thing our freshman congressman, Democrat Bill Enyart from Belleville, has the same appreciation for coal long shown by his Republican colleague, John Shimkus of Collinsville.

They understand the value of the coal beneath the land of Southern Illinois -- a 100-year supply that has the energy equivalence of all the oil controlled by Saudi Arabia. And Enyart is the co-chair of the congressional coal caucus. He's in a unique position to advance the fortunes of our region's greatest energy resource.

Enyart paid a visit last week to the SIU Coal Research Center in Carterville. His comments during the visit and in an interview with the editorial board of The Southern Illinoisan offered some reassurance to coal backers disappointed by President Obama's near neglect of coal in his recent presentation on steps being taken to combat climate change.

Wind and solar sources cannot possibly take the place of coal, not with existing technologies or those forecast for the horizon. The nuclear energy industry has been at a standstill in the U.S. since the 1979 partial meltdown at the Three Mile Island generating station in Pennsylvania. And the inevitability of supply and demand issues argue against putting all our eggs in the natural gas basket.

Coal needs to remain part of our energy future. That's a position Enyart endorses. He also said the 40 percent share for coal in our energy budget is just about right.

Enyart said coal has made great strides in becoming more efficient and safer. The U.S. should put more money into research and development of clean coal to take it further, he said.

"This technology is not new, it's not anything we don't know about," Enyart said. "But we've got to get this down to a point where it's economically feasible to use it."

SIU and Southern Illinois should be seen as valuable partners in the nation's search for clean, safe energy. But it cannot be burned without sufficient safeguards to the environment. That field of study could be significantly advanced with greater federal funding for gasification, sequestration of emissions and even the pipeline distribution of emissions to dormant oil fields, where the emissions can be used to release previously inaccessible reserves.

Coal production is vital to the economy of Southern Illinois, and it needs to remain a source for the nation's energy. With the development of technologies that create clean-coal options, the fuel beneath our feet can be safely used in the U.S. -- instead of being mined and shipped overseas for combustion that pays no heed to our nation's clean air standards.

Let's find a way to use our coal cleanly in the U.S. With increased federal support for clean coal research and development, much of it ideally suited to Southern Illinois and the SIU Coal Research Center, our nation stands a chance of achieving energy independence within the lifetimes of many Americans.

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