In the last week of July, Congress passed an energy bill, the first in four
years. Legislators were quick to trumpet the bill’s passage as a testament
to bipartisan cooperation, filled with notions that will help the nation’s
long-term energy concerns. At the same time, they reminded the public that the
provisions in the bill may help stabilize the energy sector in the long-term,
but will not likely change their electricity bills, nor save them any money
at the gas pump in the short-term.
“I believe that five years from now, we will look back on an energy bill
that will have stabilized energy prices, created hundreds of thousands of jobs,
boosted our economy and protected our environment,” said Sen. Pete Domenici
(R-N.M.), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee, in
a statement. The ranking Democrat on the committee, Jeff Bingaman (N.M.), said
that the “bill isn’t perfect,” but that it would help the nation
better conserve and produce energy.
Earlier this year, the House and Senate passed individual energy bills that
then went to conference in July (see Geotimes, July
2005). The conference committee members spent most of the month comparing
the two documents. The final $12.3 billion legislation compromises on many of
the numbers in the two bills, including that 70 percent of the authorized $1.8
billion for the Clean Coal Power Initiative will go toward advanced combustion
technologies, such as coal gasification. (The House bill had called for 60 percent
and the Senate bill had called for 80 percent.) The bill also requires that
7.5 billion gallons of ethanol be included in the nation’s gasoline supply
by 2012; includes a $14.6 billion energy tax package with incentives and subsidies
for further oil and gas exploration; and provides incentives for nuclear power
development.
Some more controversial provisions in the individual bills, however, such as
some renewable energy provisions and liability protection for industries that
produce MTBE, a gasoline additive and groundwater contaminant, were not included
in the bill that was sent to President Bush. The conference bill also is lighter
on climate change provisions than the Senate bill, and includes no provisions
for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, a concept the
House had pushed (although the fiscal year 2006 budget includes royalties from
oil exploration there). Congress also tackled some seemingly random issues in
the bill, including setting daylight savings time to begin three weeks earlier
in the spring and conclude a week later in the fall.
Congress sent the 1,725-page bill to the president Aug. 1, the date he requested.
Bush signed the bill Aug. 8.
Megan Sever
Link:
"The Energy Bill: Is It Big and Broad Enough?," Geotimes, July 2005
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Developing a way
to safely and efficiently store hydrogen for a fuel cell is a key technology needed
to make hydrogen-powered cars a reality. In the continual search for such storage
containers, some theoreticians have taken a new look at an old mineral: graphite.
Scientists
have long considered graphite and other carbon-based minerals and gases as options
for hydrogen fuel cells. Hydrogen is difficult to contain because the small molecule
has a low density and is highly energetic, so it can leak through most materials.
At the same time, hydrogen can easily bond with many materials, preventing the
molecule’s use as a fuel, and some storage material candidates would be too
large to both hold the hydrogen and fit within a vehicle. “Many materials
that have been seriously considered for hydrogen storage, including the leading
candidate, carbon nanotubes, are either too heavy or too expensive,” says
Serguei Patchkovskii, a researcher at the National Research Council Canada in
Ottawa, who has suggested using graphite instead. “Graphite is dirt cheap
and abundant.”Valentin V. Tepordei, the U.S. Geological Survey natural aggregates commodity specialist, has prepared the following information on aggregates, a major resource used in the construction of buildings and roads.
Natural aggregates, consisting of crushed stone, and sand and gravel, are a
major contributor to economic health, and have an amazing variety of uses. Aggregates
are among the most abundant mineral resources and are major basic raw materials
used by construction, agriculture and other industries that employ complex chemical
and metallurgical processes.
Most natural aggregates are used by the construction industry. More than 90
percent of asphalt pavements and 80 percent of concrete used in buildings and
roads are composed of aggregates. Paint, paper, plastics and glass also use
crushed stone as a constituent. When ground into powder, limestone is used as
a mineral supplement in household products, agriculture and medicine. Aggregates
also are being used in soil erosion control, water purification, processes to
reduce sulfur dioxide emissions generated by electric power plants, and other
applications that protect the environment.
Natural aggregates are widely distributed throughout the United States and occur
in a variety of geologic environments. According to 2003 data, the major aggregate-producing
states were Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida, Illinois and Georgia, and the United
States per-capita consumption was 9.3 metric tons.
One way to understand and appreciate the importance of the aggregates industries
is to look at their production in the context of all mining. On the basis of
either weight or volume, aggregates accounted for more than two-thirds of about
2.7 billion metric tons of non-fuel minerals produced in the United States in
2003. When coal mining is included, the amount of crushed stone, sand and gravel
produced still accounts for more than one-half of the quantity of all mining
and more than twice the quantity of coal produced. The U.S. production of aggregates
increased from a modest 58 million tons in 1900, when the collection of production
statistics was begun by the U.S. Geological Survey, to 2.7 billion tons in 2003.
The annual production of crushed stone and construction sand and gravel that
year was one of the highest ever recorded in the United States.
The production of recycled aggregates, mostly from concrete and asphalt pavements,
has been increasing in recent years. Replaced and reconstructed old roads and
buildings have become major sources of recyclable materials. In some applications,
recycled aggregate can compete with natural aggregates on price and quality.
The increasing limitations and high costs imposed on the use of landfills are
making the recycling of aggregates economically viable.
Despite these trends, many areas face challenges in developing their aggregates
resource. Economic factors, for example, require that pits or quarries be located
near the population centers, but residential communities usually require that
mining be conducted far from their boundaries. Thus, competing land-use plans,
zoning requirements and various regulations frequently prohibit extraction of
aggregates near populated areas. Because the demand for aggregates will continue
and, most probably, consumption will grow in the future, provisions to assure
adequate supplies are essential.
Visit minerals.usgs.gov/minerals
for more information on aggregates.
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