Energy Center will try to make fantasy of 'clean' coal a reality

WISE, Va. – The first of five energy research centers is now open in Southwest Virginia, a facility that regional leaders say will help point a pathway to future economic growth and job creation.

“Our Southwest delegation is very focused on research and development as it relates to energy,” said William Wampler, R-Bristol, speaking at a ribbon-cutting Wednesday for the Appalachia America Energy Research Center in Wise. “I think that’s how we’re going to transform the economy and lead us into new and better and more prosperous jobs.”

With all the attention the center has been getting from the governor’s office in Richmond and beyond, Wampler said, “The Asian rim and the Pacific Rim knows that Wise County is a place to come and do business.”

The Appalachia America Energy Research Center, which is to be focused on clean coal technology, will be followed by an energy research center in Abingdon, said Delegate Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City, chairman of the Virginia Tobacco Commission, which has committed $40 million to developing the centers.

“We have the coal and the natural gas in Southwest Virginia, and we want the research to be done here in Southwest Virginia,” Kilgore said. “I’m looking forward to a lot more announcements as a result of what our investment is here.”

The Abingdon facility is to be adjacent to the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center, with three other research centers slated for Southside Virginia.

Much of the talk Wednesday, among a notably bi-partisan group of speakers, was about the need for America to achieve energy independence, and the potential role that Southwest Virginia and particularly Wise County can play in achieving that goal.

“When you talk about energy, folks, energy affects everything in our lives,” said George Allen, a Republican former governor and senator who was among the dignitaries on hand for Wednesday’s ceremony.

“A free, sovereign and prosperous nation needs to be able to defend, feed and fuel itself, and that’s why it’s important that we use our resources,” Allen said, referring to the minerals in the ground and the creativity of the people as America’s chief energy assets.

“The Appalachia America Energy Research Center can help America achieve this mission,” he said.

Local dignitaries also stressed that new forms of energy will augment, not supplant, the coal and natural gas already produced in the region.

“We all realize coal has been our major source of energy for many, many years and will be still to come,” said Donald Baker, vice-chairman of the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority, which provided $2 million in severance tax revenue to help with the project. Baker also is the mayor of Clintwood, the county seat in neighboring Dickenson County.

“But we also realize in the future we need to have additional research or additional energy sources, for future generations,” Baker said, “and hopefully in the very near future Wise County can bring some companies here to provide jobs, to do the research.”

State Sen. Phil Puckett, D-Lebanon, said the facilities can help Virginia achieve Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell’s vision of making the state “the energy capital of the East Coast.”

Terry McAuliffe, a leading Democratic leader from Northern Virginia and co-chairman of the research center, said it brings the opportunity to make Southwest Virginia a leader in fuel cell technology and a process to recycle fly ash from coal-fired power plants, among other advancements.

“All of that coal fly ash that is in the ground today, that represents about $85 billion of precious metals that we could be using,” McAuliffe said, adding that being on the cutting-edge of new energy technology can help the United States keep its global leadership role.

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