Former Mont. Gov. Brian Schweitzer calls most Wash. coal export plans ‘dead’ (pt. 2)

Allison Roberts News

Brian Schweitzer’s two terms as the 23rd governor of Montana drew to a close Jan. 7. In mid-December 2012, Schweitzer spoke with SNL Energy on topics including coal development, wind generation and his prospects as a potential secretary of energy. Second in a two-part series.

SNL Energy: What are the prospects for sequestration technology at power plants that burn coal?

Brian Schweitzer: For right now, if there is no negative value in CO2 emissions, then people are going to emit their CO2. There is no carbon tax. There is no cap-and-trade, so there is no inducement for somebody to spend twice as much to build a coal-fired plant that can capture the CO2 than a conventional coal plant. I don’t know what the plans are in the future, but if we do force power plants to pay for their externalities, which includes CO2, then and only then are they going to begin capturing CO2.

Read Part One here.

Read Part Two here.