This Thursday, Sept. 15, the Subcommittee on Energy and Power will be joined by Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz for a hearing on DOE’s role in America’s national, economic, and energy security. Leading up to the hearing, Moniz on Tuesday joined committee member Rep. David McKinley (R-WV) in the heart of West Virginia coal country, where he received an update about the important work going on in the state’s energy sector, including a tour of Longview Power’s Morgantown coal-fired plant. McKinley had invited Moniz to visit during a #SubEnergyPower hearing in March. Watch the exchange here.
Sept. 12, 2016
Obama’s energy chief tours coal country
The Obama administration’s top energy official is taking time out to visit coal country Monday.
Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz will visit West Virginia for a day-long symposium on the region’s energy future before taking a tour of the Mountaineer State’s more advanced coal power plant.
The visit comes after the White House recently sent nearly $40 million to West Virginia and other coal-dependent states to help retrain miners after a string of coal company bankruptcies and mine closures left thousands out of work. The industry is being hammered by a shift away from coal to natural gas for electricity production, anti-coal regulations by President Obama, and a major tapering off of global demand for U.S. coal.
Moniz is visiting the coal state at the behest of Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, who arranged the meeting in the last few weeks. Manchin joined his Republican colleague, Sen. Shelly Moore Capito, for a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee field hearing last month to discuss the state’s energy future.
Capito, who headed the hearing, touched on the need to continue research and development on carbon capture and storage technology, which removes greenhouse gas emissions from a coal plant’s smokestack. The Obama administration sees the technology as one of the only ways to continue to use coal by reducing its effects on climate change and the environment.
Moniz is a proponent of the technology, along with other advancements that would keep coal-fired power plants in the U.S. power mix. Moniz will join Manchin at West Virginia University’s Mid-Atlantic Region Energy Innovation Forum on Monday.
Moniz will then tour Longview Power’s coal-fired plant outside Morgantown, accompanied by Manchin and Republican Rep. David McKinley. McKinley had invited Moniz to tour the plant in March.
Read the article online HERE.
