|
Great Lakes
Article:
Foundation Commits $7 Million to Promoting
Climate-Friendly Coal Plants for Midwest; New Environment
Funding to Focus on Energy, Rivers, Great Lakes Restoration
AScribe Newswire
Posted September 19, 2005
CHICAGO, Sept. 19 (AScribe Newswire) -- The Joyce Foundation
is committing $7 million over three years to ensure that
the next generation of Midwest coal plants uses state-of-the-art
technology for minimizing climate change and pollution.
Grants will support efforts to persuade utility companies,
regulators, investors and developers to stop building
outdated coal-burning power plants and move toward coal
gasification and other cleaner technologies.
"We have a historic opportunity, and responsibility,
to secure our region's energy future without further damaging
our climate or polluting the Great Lakes," said Ellen
S. Alberding, President of the Joyce Foundation. "Cleaner
technologies exist for generating the electricity this
region needs. What we need are public policies and private
sector incentives to adopt them."
The focus on clean coal is one of three new Environment
funding priorities announced today by the Chicago-based
foundation. Other grants will focus on promoting investments
to restore the Great Lakes and the rivers that feed into
them. Overall the Foundation is committing $24 million
to these efforts over the next three years.
Between twenty and forty coal plants are under various
stages of consideration for the Great Lakes region. Burning
coal emits carbon, which contributes significantly to
global warming; in addition, coal-burning plants have
been major polluters of air and water in the Midwest and
nationally. Coal gasification technology offers the possibility
of avoiding both problems, by capturing and storing emissions
underground.
Gasification plants (of which there are two in the U.S.)
may be more expensive initially than conventional coal-fired
plants, although costs could be offset by tax credits
included in the recent energy bill. But most experts believe
that over the life of plants being built today, addressing
global warming will become a public policy imperative.
Last June, a U.S. Senate resolution called for "mandatory,
market-based limits" on greenhouse gas emissions.
If carbon emissions are capped, plants using conventional
technology would become much more expensive to operate
over the long haul. "Better to build these plants
right from the start," said Alberding. "We will
support groups to make that case in the strongest possible
terms."
She added that Midwest decisions could provide global
lessons, as India, China and other developing countries
turn to coal-based generation to supply their own burgeoning
electricity needs.
The Foundation plans to issue a request for proposals
on the issue later this fall, and will award grants beginning
in 2006 based on the resulting submissions.
Joyce has long funded efforts to promote a mix of clean
energy sources, including energy efficiency and renewable
energy, notably wind power. The decision to focus on the
future of coal is due in part to the likely impacts of
a new generation of coal plants in exacerbating global
warming. Scientific projections suggest that climate change
could dramatically reduce water levels in the Great Lakes
and disrupt such vital Midwest industries as agriculture,
fisheries, transportation, and tourism. Cleaner coal technology
could not only reduce that risk; it could bring the added
benefit of opening markets for Midwest coal. Because of
its relatively high sulfur, coal from Illinois, Indiana
and Ohio falls afoul of environmental policies designed
to reduce acid rain. Coal gasification, by contrast, offers
the potential to remove most or all pollutants, thus putting
Midwest coal on the same market footing as low-sulfur
coal from other regions.
"Getting our energy mix right promises enormous
benefits for the Midwest," said Alberding. "We
get the electricity we need to continue economic growth;
we help sustain vital regional industries; and we protect
the Great Lakes, the environmental treasure at the heart
of our region."
Protecting the Great Lakes is the longtime centerpiece
of the Foundation's environmental grant making. The other
funding priorities announced today include:
- Promoting conservation and restoration of up to three
river systems that flow into the Great Lakes, to provide
models for such efforts regionally;
- Building public support for a $4-$6 billion plan for
comprehensive Great Lakes restoration;
- Responding to opportunities to address other threats
to the Great Lakes, including invasive species.
- - - -
CONTACT: Mary O'Connell, Joyce Foundation Media Relations,
312.782.2464
|
