This article originally published by The Daily Mail

April 12, 2007

Report criticizes W.Va. for global warming gas emissions

By TIM HUBER
Associated Press Writer

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Environmental groups criticized West Virginia for releasing increasing amounts of carbon dioxide into the environment in a report issued Thursday.

While acknowledging other states spewed far more of the gas linked to global warming, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group called West Virginia "incredibly irresponsible.'' In essence, any increase is bad because the nation must curb carbon dioxide releases, said U.S. PIRG's Rose Garr.

"If we're even going to sort of get close to what scientists say,'' Garr said, "it's for sure that West Virginia won't be off the hook.''

Vivian Stockman of the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition adds that "an increase isn't going to cut it.'' OVEC participated in U.S. PIRG's release of the study results.

By most measures, West Virginia performed better than the rest of the country.

From 1990 through 2004 -- the span covered by the study -- carbon dioxide emissions rose 7 percent in West Virginia. Emissions rose 18 percent for the country as a whole. Emissions from coal-fired West Virginia power plants rose 16 percent -- again lower than the national average.

Lara Ramsburg, spokeswoman for Gov. Joe Manchin, said the numbers show West Virginia is on the right track to emphasize more use of coal, and the development of ways to capture carbon dioxide and store it underground.

"It's a national issue. It's a world issue, but that's also why you're seeing new technology developed and you're seeing the governor work so hard in making sure West Virginia is a part of sequestration efforts,'' Ramsburg said.

Garr and Stockman are largely dismissive of sequestration. Not only do they consider it a long way from being feasible, but they add that it does nothing to reduce what they consider the highly destructive process of mountaintop removal coal mining.

"In that stage of coal production, it's just so dirty and so destructive,'' Garr said.

Likewise, transforming coal to liquid fuels such as gasoline is unpopular with OVEC and U.S. PIRG.

Stockman and Garr say money that Manchin wants to invest in coal to liquids would be better spent on wind power, solar energy and alternative fuels such as ethanol.

"Of course it doesn't go over well in West Virginia, where we've been sort of a mono-economy for so long,'' Stockman said. "But global warming is going to be even harder to deal with than diversifying our economy.''

Ramsburg said a majority of people don't share those worries and realize that coal is important along with solar, wind and alternative fuels.

"We can make the energy here in West Virginia that can help our entire country and we can do it safely and efficiently,'' she said. "We have all the confidence in the world that they can be achieved with this carbon sequestration goal as making it very clean.''