National Mining Association (NMA) President and CEO Kraig R. Naasz commended President Bush for his strong endorsement of clean coal technology in the annual State of the Union address. “The nation’s mining industry commends the president for acknowledging the importance of clean coal technologies in the nation’s on-going efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen its energy security.  The effectiveness of clean coal technologies has been convincingly demonstrated in the significant reductions of regulated emissions by US power plants. 

“When adequate research, development and deployment funding is made available, these and other technologies can deliver equally dramatic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, not only here in the USA but also in China and India, whose emissions now surpass our own.

“We commend the president for his commitment to funding a new $2 billion international clean energy technology fund over the next three years that will stimulate the development of clean coal technologies and help transform global electricity generation.

“As the president observed, coal is especially vital to the US, where it generates half of the nation’s electricity.  Technology also holds the key to transforming America’s coal supplies, the world’s largest, into clean fuels capable of powering motor vehicles and aircraft, and reducing our dependence on foreign energy. Providing greater clean power and energy security for US businesses and families is not a partisan political objective, but one both parties must pursue to meet the environmental and energy supply challenges that lie ahead.”