NASA and Coal?

Cross Posted at Progress Ohio
I ran into an interesting article Link by Kevin Kelley with West Life News, a Westlake area publication, that is worth a read. The article followed Governor Strickland’s visit a few weeks ago at NASA Glenn Research Center.

Apparently the Governor’s visit was to take a look at the alternative fuel research going on at the NASA facility. The Governor visited the facility’s “Advanced Subsonic Combustion Rig”, the only device of its kind in this country, which is being used to develop alternative jet fuels. The combustion process converts CO2 and hydrogen to produce liquid fuel.

What caught my eye is that NASA is looking at technology to convert Ohio’s coal into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. Fuels converted in this process have no sulfur emissions (which produces acid rain) and reduced CO2 emissions. Just think, a coal-powered space shuttle?

I find this very exciting, although I am concerned about applications that increase the mining of coal within the state without a concurrent policy to deal with the devastation left behind. Greater use of our coal resources would be a huge economic boost to our Appalachian areas of the state. Coal use further may increase with “clean-coal technology” in the generation of electricity. Add “liquid fuel” to the mix, and the mining industry will indeed be happy.

If the cost of coal increases, many ecologically sensitive areas that were too expensive to mine in the past may be economically viable. Because of federal law, mining companies are doing a better job at “reclamation” of land after mining activities have ceased. But the landscape is forever changed. And older mines have left a legacy of ecological problems, from mine subsidence to acid mine drainage into our potable water. There is not enough funding to address these problems created by mining companies long relegated to history. It is my hope that if these new technologies are successful, that increased mining is predicated on provisions for taking care of the environmental costs associated with the past, present and future mining operations.