THE BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES OF PRODUCING LIQUID FUEL FROM COAL: THE ROLE FOR FEDERAL RESEARCH HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION SEPTEMBER 5, 2007 Serial No. 110–51 Printed for the use of the Committee on Science and Technology ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.science.house.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 37–639PS WASHINGTON : 2008 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 11:08 Apr 21, 2008 Jkt 037639 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 C:\WORKD\E&E07\090507\37639 SCIENCE1 PsN: SCIENCE1 COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY HON. BART GORDON, Tennessee, Chairman JERRY F. COSTELLO, Illinois RALPH M. HALL, Texas EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER JR., LYNN C. WOOLSEY, California Wisconsin MARK UDALL, Colorado LAMAR S. SMITH, Texas DAVID WU, Oregon DANA ROHRABACHER, California BRIAN BAIRD, Washington ROSCOE G. BARTLETT, Maryland BRAD MILLER, North Carolina VERNON J. EHLERS, Michigan DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma NICK LAMPSON, Texas JUDY BIGGERT, Illinois GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, Arizona W. TODD AKIN, Missouri JERRY MCNERNEY, California JO BONNER, Alabama PAUL KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania TOM FEENEY, Florida DARLENE HOOLEY, Oregon RANDY NEUGEBAUER, Texas STEVEN R. ROTHMAN, New Jersey BOB INGLIS, South Carolina MICHAEL M. HONDA, California DAVID G. REICHERT, Washington JIM MATHESON, Utah MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas MIKE ROSS, Arkansas MARIO DIAZ-BALART, Florida BEN CHANDLER, Kentucky PHIL GINGREY, Georgia RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri BRIAN P. BILBRAY, California CHARLIE MELANCON, Louisiana ADRIAN SMITH, Nebraska BARON P. HILL, Indiana PAUL C. BROUN, Georgia HARRY E. MITCHELL, Arizona CHARLES A. WILSON, Ohio SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT HON. NICK LAMPSON, Texas, Chairman JERRY F. COSTELLO, Illinois BOB INGLIS, South Carolina LYNN C. WOOLSEY, California ROSCOE G. BARTLETT, Maryland DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois JUDY BIGGERT, Illinois GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, Arizona W. TODD AKIN, Missouri JERRY MCNERNEY, California RANDY NEUGEBAUER, Texas MARK UDALL, Colorado MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas BRIAN BAIRD, Washington MARIO DIAZ-BALART, Florida PAUL KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania BART GORDON, Tennessee RALPH M. HALL, Texas JEAN FRUCI Democratic Staff Director CHRIS KING Democratic Professional Staff Member MICHELLE DALLAFIOR Democratic Professional Staff Member SHIMERE WILLIAMS Democratic Professional Staff Member ELAINE PHELEN Democratic Professional Staff Member ADAM ROSENBERG Democratic Professional Staff Member ELIZABETH STACK Republican Professional Staff Member STACEY STEEP Research Assistant (II) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 11:08 Apr 21, 2008 Jkt 037639 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\WORKD\E&E07\090507\37639 SCIENCE1 PsN: SCIENCE1 C O N T E N T S September 5, 2007 Page Witness List ............................................................................................................. 2 Hearing Charter ...................................................................................................... 3 Opening Statements Statement by Representative Nick Lampson, Chairman, Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, Committee on Science and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives .................................................................................... 6 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 7 Statement by Representative Ralph M. Hall, Ranking Minority Member, Committee on Science and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives ......... 9 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 10 Statement by Representative Bob Inglis, Ranking Minority Member, Sub- committee on Energy and Environment, Committee on Science and Tech- nology, U.S. House of Representatives ............................................................... 7 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 8 Prepared Statement by Representative Jerry F. Costello, Member, Sub- committee on Energy and Environment, Committee on Science and Tech- nology, U.S. House of Representatives ............................................................... 10 Prepared Statement by Representative Charles A. Wilson, Member, Com- mittee on Science and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives ................. 11 Prepared Statement by Representative Roscoe G. Bartlett, Member, Sub- committee on Energy and Environment, Committee on Science and Tech- nology, U.S. House of Representatives ............................................................... 11 Witnesses: Dr. Robert L. Freerks, Director, Product Development, Rentech, Inc. Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 13 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 14 Mr. John N. Ward, Vice President, Marketing and Government Affairs, Head- waters Incorporated Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 20 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 21 Dr. James T. Bartis, Senior Policy Researcher, RAND Corporation Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 30 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 32 Biography .......................................................................................................... 37 Dr. David G. Hawkins, Director, Climate Center, Natural Resources Defense Council Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 38 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 39 Biography .......................................................................................................... 56 Dr. Joseph Romm, Former Acting Assistant Secretary, Office of Energy Effi- ciency and Renewable Energy, Department of Energy; Senior Fellow, Cen- ter for American Progress Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 56 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 58 Biography .......................................................................................................... 63 (III) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 11:08 Apr 21, 2008 Jkt 037639 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\WORKD\E&E07\090507\37639 SCIENCE1 PsN: SCIENCE1 IV Page Dr. Richard D. Boardman, Senior Consulting Research and Development Lead, Idaho National Laboratoryq Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 64 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 65 Discussion Water Consumption With Coal-to-Liquids Plants ......................................... 75 CO2 Emissions .................................................................................................. 75 Role of the Federal Government ..................................................................... 76 Can We Use the Hydrogen Extracted From This Process? ........................... 76 Coal-to-Liquids Versus Petroleum .................................................................. 77 Coal Production ................................................................................................ 78 Greenhouse Gas Emissions—Cost and Viability ........................................... 79 Water Usage ..................................................................................................... 79 Limitations of Domestic Coal Resources ........................................................ 80 CTL Waste ........................................................................................................ 80 Plug-in Hybrids ................................................................................................. 81 Running Aircraft Engines on Coal-to-Liquids ................................................ 83 Carbon Sequestration ....................................................................................... 84 Reasons to Start Investing in Coal-to-Liquids ............................................... 84 Should Carbons Be Taxed? .............................................................................. 85 Price of CO2 ...................................................................................................... 85 Why Not Coal-to-Liquid to Help Address Global Warming? ......................... 86 Is Energy Security Important? ........................................................................ 86 Should We Increase Domestic Oil Production? .............................................. 87 Construction of Power Plants .......................................................................... 87 More on Domestic Oil Production ..................................................................