Coal R&D championed by research council

Abstract

Early hints are that Congress, the Department of Energy, or both, will cut DOE's budget for fossil energy research and development in fiscal 1996. This move could result in the demise of longrunning clean-coal programs. Begun in the 1970s, the clean-coal programs were a specific response to the oil shocks of that decade—an embargo, shortages, and skyrocketing prices. Coal was touted as the only abundant backup energy source native to the U.S. Oil shortages now seem part of the distant past, but the coal programs persevered. Now, they are on the chopping block. But even as the Administration's fiscal 1996 budget is set to be issued—scheduled for this week—the National Research Council has published a study that finds, There will be a powerful economic driving force for major and expanded use of coal over the next several decades with concomitant pressures to reduce environmental impacts through improved technology. The study recommends that DOE ...