US Energy Secretary: WV Lab has Critical Role
The State Journal
29 July 2013
MORGANTOWN, WV (AP) — Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz says the
National Energy Technology Laboratory has an important role to
play in developing a cleaner, more prosperous American future.
He also said in prepared remarks that coal and other fossil fuels
will remain part of the energy portfolio for decades, so
scientists must find ways to make them burn cleaner.
Moniz was in Morgantown on Monday to tour the lab and speak to its
258 federal employees.
The lab also employs some 437 contractors and has other research
sites in Pittsburgh and Albany, Ore. In all, it employs 1,426
workers, about 854 of whom are contractors.
Last month, President Barack Obama laid out a general plan to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase both the production
of clean energy and energy efficiency.
The challenges are serious, Moniz said, and the world is already
seeing the effects in more severe floods, heat waves, droughts and
other events that drive up food and energy prices.
"And rising temperatures and more intense storms pose a serious
threat to our infrastructure throughout the country," he said.
"But the United States has faced challenges like this before, and
we have always found a way to innovate our way to a cleaner and
more prosperous future."
The U.S. has doubled production of wind and solar power in the
past four years, yet coal and other fossil fuels account for 80
percent of all energy production and 70 percent of electricity
production.
Those fuels "will be a major part of our energy future for
decades," Moniz said. "That's why any serious effort to protect
our kids from the worst effects of climate change must also
include developing, demonstrating and deploying the technologies
to use our abundant fossil fuel resources as cleanly as possible."