79-14-B1
- Main Page \ Reagan Radio Commentaries \ 1979
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Coal[edit]
Transcript[edit]Some time ago when the President addressed us on energy, he advocated converting more of our utilities and industrial plants from oil and natural gas to coal. He even set a figure for utilities -- substitute coal for 50 percent of the oil they are presently using. Well you can't argue with the fact that we have enough coal to last 900 years. We have an estimated one-third of all the known coal reserves in the world. But you can ask, why aren't we burning more? You can even ask why aren't we mining more? We are producing about 150 million tons a year -- well below our capacity. The answer to these questions was given a few years ago by a spokesman for the energy industry. He said very simply, "Under federal policies and regulations, we can't mine it, and we can't burn it." "It", of course being coal. A massive network of regulations has led to our present situation. Washington is aware of this problem because Carl E. Bogge, President of the National Coal Association, sent a lengthy memo to the White House listing the federal practices that made the President's request for conversion impossible to fulfill. I'm indebted to a fine journalist and friend, M. Stanton Evans, for collecting and making public these government road blocks to more use of coal. They are: A moratorium on leasing federal lands for coal mining since 1971; the unworkability of the Department of Interiors coal leasing program; that same department's regulations under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act which may even put some operators out of business; some policies under that same act which will declare some coal bearing lands "unsuitable" for mining; public lands withdrawal; and emission standards under the Environmental Protection Agency which could make unusable large shares of the most economically recoverable U.S. coal reserves. Stan Evans went on to cite more of Mr. Bogge's memorandum, such as taxes on the coal industry; price controls on other fuels which held them so low, that coal couldn't compete; and increased coal slurry pipelines for transporting coal which would compete with existing means of transportation. By far, however, the biggest road block are the so-called "ambient air standards." Every air quality control region in the U.S. is in violation of those standards, mainly because of what are called "suspended particulates." Now this isn't necessarily man caused pollution. These particulates can be dust, swamp gas and other of natures wonders. But because they are present we can't add whatever particulates might be produced by mining or burning coal. It would seem that a study is called for weighing the regulations and their benefits against the benefits of utilizing our biggest natural fuel supply. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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