Western governors discuss clean energy

DEADWOOD, S.D. (AP) - Western states already have made progress in generating more clean energy, and the region can lead the nation in producing fuel and electricity from clean sources, governors of western states said Sunday at their annual meeting.

South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds, chairman of the Western Governors' Association, said western states can produce power from wind, solar technology and the traditional sources such as oil, gas and coal. The association has emphasized moving to clean sources of energy for economic and environmental reasons.

'The potential of the West is astounding,' Rounds said at the start of the three-day conference in the historic Black Hills gambling town of Deadwood.

'Our work is not done, and I hope that we will continue to work within our states and in Congress to ensure that the West is truly the best when it comes to clean and diverse energy production,' Rounds said.

Ten governors and the premiers of two Canadian provinces are attending the meeting, which features discussions about global warming, renewable energy projects, efforts to reduce carbon emissions into the atmosphere, and the farm bill Congress is working to pass this year.

'There really is not a great deal of serious debate any longer as to whether human activity contributes to climate change,' said Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal.

The governors opened the meeting by releasing a report that shows western states are making progress toward meeting the goals the association set in 2004 for increasing the generation of energy from clean sources.

Of the new generating capacity added in the region in 2005, nearly 25 percent was from clean energy sources, according to the report. If total generating capacity in the region continues to grow by 2 percent a year and clean sources grow by 20 percent a year, clean energy production will represent 19 percent of all generating capacity in western states by 2015, the report says.

The governors also passed a resolution supporting additional effort toward changing energy production to clean sources. The document includes plans for western states to work with the federal government to speed up development of carbon-sequestration technology, which pumps carbon dioxide underground so it will not contribute to global warming.

Governors attending the meeting said the federal government needs to adopt long-term policies, including tax credits and other financing, to help promote the development of clean energy.

Projects under way are removing carbon from the emissions of coal-fired power plants and piping it to another location, where the carbon dioxide is pumped underground and captured. In some cases the carbon dioxide can be used to help pump oil out of the ground.

Gregory McRae, a chemical engineering professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said carbon sequestration is technically feasible, but large-scale projects are needed in different locations to convince the public that it is safe.

Jonathan Schrag of Columbia University said carbon sequestration is the key to continued power production from the nation's plentiful coal, but it could increase the cost of electricity by 30-50 percent, he said.

However, the experts said technological advances could cut the cost of carbon sequestration in the future.

John Harju of the University of North Dakota said a regional group is using a grant to study several carbon sequestration projects. Some government financial incentives will be needed to support research and get some projects built, he said.

McRae said the long-term legal liability involved in pumping carbon dioxide underground also needs to determined.

The MIT professor said many students have told him they want to continue work on carbon sequestration after they finished a course that dealt with the subject. 'They care about this problem with a passion.'

John O'Donnell, president of Ausra Inc., also encouraged the western governors to embrace large-scale solar energy projects. Technology is now advanced enough to build large solar plants, but the industry needs help in keeping financing costs down, he said.

Solar power now can store power from the sun and release it overnight, which means it could supply a large part of the world's power needs, O'Donnell said. Western states are the best places for solar power plants, which will need to put up many panels over large areas, he said.

A solar power project with panels located in an area 92 miles long by 92 miles wide could supply 100 percent of the nation's power needs, O'Donnell said.

However, commercial investors will not give solar power projects low interest rates because they believe anything involving new technology is a risk, O'Donnell said.

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