Supporting clean coal technology at the Democratic National Convention may not be the popular position, but it is nonetheless worthwhile, former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell said Wednesday during a panel discussion hosted by Politico on the sidelines of the event in Philadelphia. “I realize people say ‘clean coal’ is an oxymoron, but in fact the biggest problem from coal is burning carbon,” he said, adding that the processes of capturing and storing carbon are well understood, “but we can’t figure out a way to do it economically.”
For states like Pennsylvania, where coal is an abundant resource, finding a way to continue to use that resource in an environmentally responsible way would be invaluable, Rendell said. “If we can use it in an environmentally sound way, there’s no reason we shouldn’t.”
For that reason, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton should support development of carbon capture and storage technology, according to Rendell. “I wouldn’t spend a lot of money on it, but I’d spend some money giving out grants to people who want to find a way to financially viably capture and sequester coal,” he said. “If we could do that, we would remove a significant amount of the environmental harm.”
Developing clean coal technology would also create a new industry for the nation, Rendell said. If the United States can develop and perfect CCS, that technology can be exported to other countries, such as India and China, where coal is likely to be used in large amounts for decades to come. “You want to know something that would change our economy, change the balance of power, change our relationships with countries abroad? That would be it,” he said.
However, he cautioned, developing CCS should not be plan A for the nation’s carbon mitigation efforts. “I wouldn’t make that something we rely on, but why not let technology have a go at it?” he said.
