NEWS

Sen. Brownback says he’s bullish on coal liquids, biofuels

05/23/2007

By Debra Kahn

Greenwire

The United States should focus on reducing its dependence on foreign oil and avoid mandatory curbs on climate-changing greenhouse gases under an energy policy outlined yesterday by the Republican presidential candidate Sam Brownback.

Addressing a news conference sponsored by SetAmericaFree.org, the Kansas senator outlined an energy platform similar to one offered by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R): Boost energy independence and security through increased efficiency, ramp up domestic biofuels production, and expand drilling in the outer continental shelf and open the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to petroleum exploration.

Brownback said the nation could achieve energy security in 15 years, despite analysts' projections that the United States would be importing 68 percent of its oil by 2025.

ANWR is thought to contain about 10 billion barrels of oil and would produce about 1 million barrels a day, according to government estimates. But Brownback said that if ANWR had been opened to drilling 10 years ago, "we would have an extra 2 million barrels of American oil on the global market each year." He also advocated tax incentives and investment in research and development to boost domestic oil production.

Energy independence should also come from replacing petroleum with electricity, he said. "Consumers need a choice in the transportation fuel market," he said. "They need another option beyond petroleum. That choice should be electricity." The country should continue producing energy-independent electricity from coal, he said, with an emphasis on coal-to-liquids (CTL) technology.

"Coal needs to be at the center of our energy policy for the foreseeable future," he said.

While Democratic presidential contenders have been quick to discuss their climate change strategies, Republicans have been much quieter, with Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) the only one to detail his intention to address greenhouse gas emissions. In contrast, Rep. Tom Tancredo (Colo.) recently told the Associated Press that Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" was the last work of fiction he had read.

"We must be energy self-reliant in North America in the next 15 years," Brownback said. "At the same time, we need to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. This is possible using our ingenuity, resources and determination."

When asked for specifics on carbon-reduction, Brownback said boosting electricity generation—and plug-in vehicle use—would "break the carbon cycle," as would increasing biofuel production to fill 40 percent of domestic fuel consumption. To meet the increased electricity demand, he suggested nuclear power; for biofuels, he said cellulosic ethanol could make up 75 percent of the production jump.

But in another part of his speech, Brownback also touted high-emission CTL technology and Canada's oil sands as secure energy sources. Good Canada-U.S. relations make the oil sands a better source of energy than Venezuela and other oil-producing nations that "may lack political stability."