'Coal gas' plan draws fire: Flap arises on popular energy bill
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Jun 26 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Jay Fitzgerald Boston Herald
The state Senate is poised today to pass a major energy bill that includes a controversial provision one environmental group says could keep Massachusetts dependent on coal-burning power plants for years.
The House has already passed the giant energy bill that includes a slew of measures environmentalists are praising -- including helping the renewable energy industry and requiring utilities to implement more energy-efficiency policies.
Sue Reid, a staff attorney at the Conservation Law Foundation, said the overall bill is "tremendous" and "incredible" for pushing energy efficiency and renewable energy, such as wind, solar and hydro power.
But Reid said there are "real concerns" with a provision that would allow so-called "coal gasification" technology to be counted as an "alternative energy" source, thus possibly getting indirect subsidies from electric ratepayers.
The technology basically turns coal into a cleaner-burning gas form, thus reducing carbon pollutants believed to be contributing to climate warming.
In a summary analysis of the energy bill, the Conservation Law Foundation said the provision "opens the door" for increased use of dirty-burning coal in Massachusetts.
But Ian Bowles, Gov. Deval Patrick's secretary of environment and energy, rejected those concerns, saying the bill is tightly written to allow only the very best coal-gasification technology that both captures and stores carbon pollutants.
"It's a stupid sideshow," Bowles said of debate over the gasification provision.
Cambridge's GreatPoint Energy, which makes coal-gasification technology, said in a statement that it is confident "our technology offers a path to a cleaner alternative to imports of liquefied natural gas."
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