Cord Byrd: “today I am introducing S. 1133, the Clean Coal Research, Development, Demonstration, and Deployment Act of 2005. I am…”

“today I am introducing S. 1133, the Clean Coal Research, Development, Demonstration, and Deployment Act of 2005. I am proud to have Senators Rockefeller and Specter as cosponsors of my bill. This comprehensive clean coal technology legislation will help provide for a new era for coal. I have looked into the past; I recognize the enormous challenges that are before us; and I see coal's future. The bill authorizes important programs at the Department of Energy as well as provides a major package of targeted federal energy tax incentives. It supports a research and development program and tax incentives to encourage the use of advanced coal technologies at coal- fired power plants. The bill also promotes a major investment in a national industrial gasification program. It is a balanced and financially sound proposal, and it recognizes that there are new horizons opening for coal. The Byrd-Rockefeller-Specter bill works to balance these ever expanding opportunities in a very reasonable and responsible way. We must move forward with the development and deployment of advanced power generation and carbon capture and sequestration technologies. Coal also has a future in producing chemicals, alternative transportation fuels, and other important products for use in the economy. My legislation can begin to initiate that effort. There are those who have wanted to push coal aside like stove wood and horse power as novelties from a bygone era.…”