Franken questions coal gas plant in the Bemidji Pioneer

Al Franken, DFL U.S. Senate candidate from Minnesota, gave an interesting interview to the Bemidji Pioneer. (No, Bemidji is not on the Iron Range but many of our people go to college and drink a lot of beer there, so it is a city of note).

Essentially, Franken was stressing his support of basic northern Minnesota issues like gun ownership rights, our natural resource economy and energy.

My favorite part of the story:

He’s been asked about the Iron Range’s current build-up and the need for more energy, with a “clean-coal” coal gasification plant proposed to generate power. While it seems Franken may oppose the plant, he says he supports the technology but is unsure if it’s appropriate for that place at this time.

“The idea of coal gasification where you can sequester the CO2 is a technology that we ought to develop,” Franken said. “I’m just not sure at that plant is the best project. We want to get the most bang for the buck, and you want to make sure it’s sequestered properly.”

The technology is needed, he said, as China and India put up a coal-fired plant once a week. It does no good for the United States to seek a zero-carbon footprint when the other two nations continue unabated with carbon emissions.

Yes, Al Franken actually recognizes the difference between a good “jobs” project and a bad “jobs” project. He is not drinking the Kool Aid on Excelsior Energy’s boondoggle Mesaba Energy Project.

Speak Your Mind

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.