      COAL: THE CORNERSTONE OF AMERICA'S ENERGY INDEPENDENCE
                       Robert C. Byrd, 33
            U.S. Senator, Senate Hart Office Building
                 Room 311, Washinton, D.C. 20510
                                            
  Even as recently as 20 years ago, America could still, on the 
surface at least, afford to be energy complacent.  At the service 
station pump in 1971, agaloon of gasoline cost little more than 
30 cents; the average monthly residential bill was $20; and home 
heating oil cost about 20 cents a gallon. 

  Twice in the 70's that complacency was shattered.  First during 
the Yom Kipper war and later during the Iranian Revolution, 
Americans learned how fragile our oil lifelines are.  More 
recently, Iraq's invasion of tiny oil-rich Kuwait once again 
underscored America's energy weaknesses. 

  Today, there is widespread agreement that the United States 
must develop a comprehensive national energy policy. As events in 
the Middle East have too frequently reminded us, our national 
security and our economic security are highly dependent upon our 
energy security. 

  The problem is that opinions vary sharply over the direction 
that a national energy policy should take. The administration has 
crafted one proposal, called the National Energy Strategy. 
Unfortunately, that proposal falls short of the mark in several 
key areas. One of the most serious shortcomings of the National 
Energy Strategy is its failure to encourage the use of coal, our 
nation's most abundant and lowest cost fossil fuel resource. 

  For example, the Administration says that a "fundamental 
premise" of its energy strategy is that science and technology 
are the keys to energy independence, increased competitiveness, 
and environmental improvements. Yet, at the same time, the 
Administration has proposed eliminating the next round of the 
Clean Coal Technology Program, which is the one program in this 
nation focused on finding new, innovative, and environmentally 
acceptable ways to use coal. 

  Consequently, under the Administration's proposal, even in the 
best of circumstances, the United States would still be dependent 
on imported oil for 40 percent of its energy needs in the year 
2010. 

  By contrast, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources has proposed an energy policy blueprint - called the 
National Energy Security Act of 1991 - that features coal as a 
central element. This is comprehensive legislation that I believe 
will put our nation on the path toward developing an array of 
energy strategies and resources that will forever reduce our 
dependence on foreign oil. 

  The United States is the Saudi Arabia of coal. Coal represents 
94 percent of the United States' proven fossil fuel reserve base. 
Our recoverable coal reserves total 168 billion tons and are 
roughly equivalent, in terms of their energy value, to the entire 
world's known petroleum reserves. 

  The National Energy Security Act provides strong incentives for 
the deployment of the newest, most efficient, and cleanest 
technologies for coal-fired electrical generation. In addition, 
the legislation would help to advance new uses of coal, such as 
coal-based transportation fuel, which would serve to further 
reduce America's dependence on foreign oil. 

  The National Energy Security Act also encourages the sharing of 
our energy advances with our allies in both the industrialized 
and developing worlds. 

  If the global environment is of concern to us in the United 
States, as it should be, we should work to make available to the 
developing nations of the world, the most advanced, efficient, 
and cleanest generating technologies as they are developed. 

  If world stability is of concern, we should work to ensure that 
developing nations have the means to achieve their inspirations. 
If we are concerned about insulating the economies of other 
nations from the disruptive effects of instability in the Middle 
East, we should work to provide other nations with access to 
reliable, readily available, and low-cost energy alternatives to 
imported oil. The National Energy Security Act works to achieve 
these goals by fostering the export of American coal and American 
clean-coal technologies. 

  In addition to focusing on the intelligent use of our coal 
reserves and promoting the greater development of domestic energy 
resources, the National Energy Security Act also recognizes the 
importance of strategies that promote increased conservation and 
improved energy efficiency. 

As Congress continues to work on comprehensive energy 
legislation, there will be much debate on what the appropriate 
balance should be among our energy, economic, and environmental 
needs and goals. Yet we cannot allow the prospect of a vigorous 
and perhaps tense debate to deter us from getting on with the 
task at hand. The time has come - the time is long past due - for 
the United States to develop and put into place a national energy 
policy that will make our nation energy independent. 
                                            

