Date: 2007-06-19
Speaker: GENE GREEN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. I move to strike the last word. I wish to engage Subcommittee Chairman Mr. VISCLOSKY in a colloquy for purposes of underscoring the strategic role of petroleum coke gasification to reduce dependence on the foreign supply of energy. and illustrating the technological feasibility of petroleum coke gasification projects to sequester carbon. Mr. Chairman. the Energy and Policy Act of 2005. Public Law 10958. has a specific provision. section 415. 42 U.S.C. 15975. authorizing the Secretary of Energy to provide loan" guarantees for at least five petroleum coke gasification projects. Petroleum coke gasification projects are also qualified under title 17. the Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program under 1703 (c) 2 and (c) 3 as an industrial gasification project and pet coke gasification project. respectively. This provision of the law recognizes the critical importance of these projects in promoting efficient management of energy sources within the United States. Domestic gasification of "petcoke." as it is also called in the U.S. refining industry. will reduce foreign exports of this product. Reducing exports of petcoke will result in reduced emissions of hydrocarbons. carbon dioxide and other gases resulting from production. transportation and burning of fossil fuels associated with energy sources currently being used instead of petcoke. Globally. it would also result in lower emissions from petcoke. since this product often is not being burned in clean processes when it is exported. Technology exists today to sequester carbon dioxide byproduct "from the petcoke gasification process. pressurize the gas. and inject it underground as a petroleum recovery enhancement technique. 0l 1315 Carbon sequestration can be a viable and compatible technology with petcoke gasification where the geology. ongoing field production. and relative distance to the location of a reliable source of carbon dioxide gas coexist. Petcoke gasification and carbon sequestration technologies would be in use more widely in key regions in our country if marketentry costs were not so high. Mr. Chairman. reducing the cost of capital to place petcoke gasification technology into service is the very objective Congress recognized and set out to implement in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The Department. of Energy has not allocated sufficient funds for loan guarantees to demonstrate commercial readiness of the petcoke gasification technology. which will reduce dependence on foreign sources of energy. Adding carbon sequestration will require further allocation of Federal funds to implement this important technology. Mr. Chairman. I urge your consideration t9 expand the types of projects that receive funding under title XVII of the Energy and Water appropriations bill to include already authorized petcoke projects that will enhance U.S. energy independence. I also urge your support for appropriating sufficient resources for one to two petcoke gasification projects in the fiscal year 2008 funding bill for the Department of Energy and hope you can take this into consideration when negotiating in conference committee with the Senate.