CLEAN COAL

Associated Press

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.

Technology now in limited use removes about 90 percent of carbon dioxide from the smokestacks of coal-fired power plants, but energy experts say cost remains the chief obstacle to bringing the “clean coal” touted by President Donald Trump into the mainstream.

They cite recent advances in applying the long-standing technology, despite some earlier setbacks, but say the U.S. power sector needs bigger tax credits or other incentives to close the cost gap for using them.

“What we have now is a public policy challenge, or call it a political challenge if you will, in that next phase, which is to deploy this technology more widely and bring the cost down, [which] requires a whole new set of policies that go beyond R&D to actual deployment incentives,” said Brad Crabtree, vice president for fossil fuels at the Great Plains Institute.

The U.S. has successfully cut other smokestack pollutants, including sulfur, nitrogen and mercury. But carbon dioxide is a bigger challenge because there is so much of it. Coal- and gas-fired electrical generators produce about 30 percent of CO2 from human activity. Other industries such as cement, steel and fertilizer manufacturing add an additional 20 to 25 percent. Farming and vehicles are also major contributors.

John Thompson of the nonprofit Clean Air Task Force said there would be no way to limit the rise in global temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels without taming carbon emissions. The world has already warmed about 1.1 degrees Celsius since the Industrial Revolution. Scientists say every fraction of a degree change in average temperatures can lead to noticeable swings in local weather patterns.

“If you don’t tackle that, you really can’t constrain warming on the planet to 11/2 to 2 degrees on anybody’s likely scenarios,” he said.

In Congress, bills that now have 64 bipartisan sponsors would raise carbon-capture tax credits from $10 or $20 per metric ton depending on use to $35 or $50. Advocates want it added to the current tax overhaul proposal.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican and co-sponsor, said carbon capture would help protect the coal industry and expand oil production as well as reduce emissions. As for chances of passage, she said that it’s “too early in the process to know whether those priorities can advance together or separately.”