Arlen Specter: “But in an era when we are struggling with a national energy policy, it is my view that we ought to be relying on coal as…”

“But in an era when we are struggling with a national energy policy, it is my view that we ought to be relying on coal as a major source of supply to avoid reliance on foreign oil, and to ease off on a great many of the controversies which are present as we look to oil exploration in a variety of places. My own State, Pennsylvania, has some 7.2 billion tons of demonstrated reserves of anthracite coal in the northeastern part of the State and some 21.4 billion tons of demonstrated reserves of bituminous coal. Coal is spread across the United States in great supply. Notwithstanding the tremendous problems we are having in finding sources of energy, we have never developed coal as a source because of the problems with sulfur dioxide and the problems of pollution which we confronted in the Clean Air Act of 1990. The legislation I would like to see enacted would provide a tax credit for clean coal technology research.”