[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 72 (Thursday, May 26, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6029-S6030]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BYRD (for himself, Mr. Rockefeller, and Mr. Specter):
  S. 1133. A bill to authorize the Secretary of Energy to develop and 
implement an accelerated research, development, and demonstration 
program for advanced clean coal technologies for use in coal-based 
generation facilities and to provide financial incentives to encourage 
the early commercial deployment of advanced clean coal technologies 
through the retrofitting, repowering, replacement, and new construction 
of coal-based electricity generating facilities and industrial 
gasification facilities; to the Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources.
  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, today I am introducing S. 1133, the Clean 
Coal Research, Development, Demonstration, and Deployment Act of 2005. 
I am proud to have Senators Rockefeller and Specter as cosponsors of my 
bill. This comprehensive clean coal technology legislation will help 
provide for a new era for coal. I have looked into the past; I 
recognize the enormous challenges that are before us; and I see coal's 
future.
  The bill authorizes important programs at the Department of Energy as

[[Page S6030]]

well as provides a major package of targeted federal energy tax 
incentives. It supports a research and development program and tax 
incentives to encourage the use of advanced coal technologies at coal-
fired power plants. The bill also promotes a major investment in a 
national industrial gasification program. It is a balanced and 
financially sound proposal, and it recognizes that there are new 
horizons opening for coal.
  The Byrd-Rockefeller-Specter bill works to balance these ever 
expanding opportunities in a very reasonable and responsible way. We 
must move forward with the development and deployment of advanced power 
generation and carbon capture and sequestration technologies. Coal also 
has a future in producing chemicals, alternative transportation fuels, 
and other important products for use in the economy. My legislation can 
begin to initiate that effort.
  There are those who have wanted to push coal aside like stove wood 
and horse power as novelties from a bygone era. But we cannot ignore 
coal as part of the solution to our future energy challenges. Over the 
past several years, I have been diligently assembling a set of 
proposals that can provide a comprehensive approach for the near- and 
long-term viability for coal, both at home and abroad. It is time that 
we reexamine the opportunities for coal, and let the past be our guide 
to the future.
  Mr. President, I hope other Senators will review S. 1133, and I urge 
them to cosponsor this legislation.
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