Clearing The Lines by Stephen Heiser: Want an Energy Secretary? Part 5

As the first two goals had been the preoccupation of the government since 1973, Herrington looked to the future and building energy strength. Petroleum was still the Nation's lifeblood and liability, but the electric power industry had taken important steps to reduce its dependence on oil. In 1985 Coal made up the lion's share of power production, with nuclear power taking the number two slot and conservation showing major promise. Each of these resources, which made up what Herrington called the energy triad, would have to be fully developed to achieve his vision of energy strength in the twenty-first century.

However, security and the environment were also major issues at this time. Herrington's concern for security and environmental protection at the Department's weapons production and laboratory facilities reflected the administration's increased sensitivity to safety since the Bhopal chemical plant disaster in India. Ironically, it was during this push for safety in the U.S. nuclear base that safety in the Soviet nuclear base hit bottom. On April 26, 1986 an RBMK Soviet nuclear reactor caught fire at Chernobyl.

The Chernobyl accident pit the DOE's nuclear facilities in the spotlight. It also didn't do much in the way of calming public fears of commercial nuclear power safety. To his credit, Herrington requested the National Academy of Sciences/National Academy of Engineering to make an independent safety assessment of DOE's 11 major production and research reactors on May 14, 1986.

The DOE's Civilian Reactor Research and Development Program had been pursuing the development of passively safe nuclear power plants long before Chernobyl. These designs would be simpler to build and operate, and would be less expensive than light water reactors. In September of 1986 Secretary Herrington lead a U.S. delegation to Special Session of the International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference in Vienna, Austria, to discuss measures to strengthen international cooperation in nuclear safety and radiological protection in aftermath of
Chernobyl.

Still problems with security and environmental compliance at DOE's laboratories and weapons production facilities needed solutions. Public concern was growing and the DOE increased work on its research and production reactors and site characterization surveys for nuclear waste repositories.

On May 28, 1986, President Reagan approved the selection of three sites for detailed study, or site characterization: Yucca Mountain, Nevada; Deaf Smith County, Texas; and Hanford, Washington. After several years of study the DOE would recommend one site to the President, who in turn might propose the site to Congress. Congress in turn passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1987. The act designated the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada as the only candidate for the storage site. Nevadans were angry and Nevada Governor Richard Bryan promised the state would use every legal remedy to oppose the decision. Further complicating matters was the fact that if the Yucca Mountain site proved unacceptable there would be no available alternative site.

In January of 1987 Secretary Herrington announced President Reagan's approval of construction of the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC), the world's largest and most advanced particle accelerator. The SSC would become the basic research tool in high energy physics for studying the nature of matter and energy. Research at the SSC would not only include study of the fundamental laws that govern the universe but also the exploration of the origins of the universe. Such breathtaking science would require space on earth to build a ten-foot- diameter racetrack-shaped tunnel, fifty-two miles in circumference, inside of which 10,000 superconducting magnets would guide two beams of highly energized protons in opposite directions. Racing around the track at nearly the speed of light, the proton beams would collide head-on with an energy of 40 trillion electron volts. Scientists believed that the resulting temperatures and pressures would simulate the big bang at the creation of the universe. Recently detected subatomic particles would surely help to answer remaining questions about the ultimate building blocks of matter and the basic forces that govern the transformations of matter and energy.

Herrington felt very strongly that much of the U.S. energy strength rested on its abundant coal reserves. The challenge was to develop and deploy clean coal technologies to increase the use of coal while reducing environmental problems such as acid rain. In February of 1987 the DOE report, "America's Clean Coal Commitment," catalogs thirty-seven projects underway or planned for clean coal demonstration facilities. The DOE calculated that since passage of the Clean Air Act in 1970 electric utilities had spent approximately $62 billion to control sulfur pollutants, including $11 billion for coal cleaning, $34 billion in premiums for low sulfur coal, and $17 billion to install stack scrubbers. The Department reported that such measures had already reduced sulfur emissions by 19 percent from 1977 to 1985. New technologies, such as fluidized bed combustion, limestone injection, advanced coal cleaning, and coal gasification, promised not only further to reduce sulfur emissions but also to reduce nitrogen pollutants thought to contribute significantly to acid rain. Following March 1987 discussions on acid rain with the Canadian government, President Reagan pledged to seek $2.5 billion over the next five years to demonstrate innovative pollution control technologies. Herrington subsequently announced that the Department of Energy would kick off Reagan's acid rain initiative with an $850 million solicitation to match industry proposals for pollution control devices that could be installed on existing coal-fired power plants.

In March of 1987 President Reagan's Energy Security Report outlines the Nation's increasing dependence on foreign oil. Low oil prices in 1986 were good for energy consumers, but bad for American oil producers. The U.S. appeared less vulnerable to an energy crisis in 1987 than it had been in 1977, however, rising oil demand, coupled with a fall in production from a crippled American oil industry made the United States more dependent on suppliers from the Persian Gulf. Even with continued conservation and efficiency and substantial contributions from other energy resources, like coal, nuclear energy, and renewables, Secretary Herrington observed, the U.S. economic and energy security is inextricably tied to the fate and fortunes of our domestic petroleum industry through this century.

At the Energy Security Conference in May 1988, Secretary Herrington gave his assessment of the Federal Government's progress in achieving energy security for the U.S. during the prior eight years. It was clear to the DOE and the Reagan Administration that the energy security of the U.S. would be linked to the oil and gas industry for the future. Yet oil and gas alone would not carry energy the nation alone and make it secure. Herrington contended that nuclear power and coal would be an essential part of the equation. In the years ahead, Herrington declared that America's energy stability, energy security, and energy strength would be determined by the sound economic solutions of the Federal Government, as well as by the ingenuity and determination of the private sector.

January 20, 1989 George Bush is inaugurated President.