President Trump’s coal advisers canceled their two-day spring meeting slated to begin Tuesday because of the snow and sleet storm that hit Washington, as a group of some of the largest coal companies pressed the administration not to scrap clean coal programs in the budget to be released this week.
The focus of the National Coal Council meeting, March 14-15, was supposed to be on the novel technologies being developed by Exxon Mobil and others to make coal power plants competitive and climate friendly in the new century. The council represents top advisers to the Department of Energy on coal technology, and is expected to be tapped by Trump and Energy Secretary Rick Perry to develop policy recommendations to advance clean coal.Trump has made development of clean coal power plants a top priority during the next four years. However, he hasn’t said how he would do that. Janet Gellici, the council’s CEO, told the Washington Examiner that Perry hasn’t formally communicated to the council, yet, but the hope is that he would address the council this week. The spring meeting was developed ahead of Perry’s confirmation this month. But the council will have to wait to see if Perry will attend once it reschedules the meeting. “The National Coal Council leadership, in consultation with the U.S. Department of Energy, has elected to postpone the NCC’s 2017 Spring Annual Meeting scheduled for March 14-15 in Alexandria, VA,” a note from Gellici to attendees read Monday afternoon.
“The approaching winter storm has already resulted in numerous flights cancellations and poses a safety hazardous for those traveling to-from the meeting,” it added. Gellici said the coal council is already “working to identify a new date for the meeting and will inform you as soon as possible.”
Meanwhile, coal producers that are members of the advisory panel sent a letter to Trump asking him to keep the clean coal program alive in the budget. The letter from Peabody Energy, Arch Coal and others underscored the need for public-private ventures to move clean coal technology forward. “Public-private partnerships through the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy are responsible for many innovative breakthroughs since its creation in 1977,” it read. “In light of recent calls for dramatic cuts to the federal budget, we want to stress that every dollar allocated to fossil energy research is an investment in the long-term future of America’s coal and fossil fuel industry.”The keynote address at the council’s meeting was expected to focus on the need for public-private ventures to move ahead carbon capture technologies, which are too expensive to develop without the cooperation of both the private sector and government. Andy Roberts, research director with consulting firm Wood Mackenzie, was scheduled to give the keynote, called, “Opportunities for Coal in the Trump Administration.”
The address was also expected to address how low-cost natural gas is making it increasingly difficult to move clean coal technology like carbon capture into the market.
Nevertheless, a company working with Exxon Mobil, called Fuel Cell Energy, was expected to underscore the need for developing clean natural gas technologies at the coal meeting, stating that reducing carbon dioxide emissions one day will be a concern for natural gas power plants as well as coal.Executives with the company told the Washington Examiner that Exxon Mobil knows that and wants to develop the carbon capture technology for gas-fired power plants, while being one of the largest gas producers in North America.
