A proposed coal-to-gas procedure aimed at lessening America’s reliance on foreign oil got off to a formal start with a labor-industry meeting Wednesday in the nation’s capital.

Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., a key figure in the National Coal to Liquids Coalition, defended the fossil fuel and said it could play a major role in the nation’s security.

“It has always been an uphill argument because so many still see coal as a dirty, inefficient, old-fashioned fuel,” Rahall told the CTL at its first meeting.

“But these individuals have their heads in the sand. They have failed, time and again, to look beyond the horizon and realize the boundless opportunities that exist in coal. They refuse to acknowledge that technology is giving us evolving ways to use coal more cleanly and efficiently to answer our energy needs.”

Rahall is planning a special summit, tentatively in mid-August, for the CTL in Beckley.

Gov. Joe Manchin called for a coal-to-gas venture two years ago, and since then, a private concern has been moving toward one such installation in southern West Virginia.

Whether Manchin will be attending the August gathering is not certain, communications director Lara Ramsburg said.

“I don’t know if the governor will be participating or not,” she said.

“I don’t know if we have any information on that or what his schedule is at that point. But he appreciates the work everybody is doing with coal liquefaction. That’s something that is of a priority with the governor.”

Rahall said the CTL denotes the start of “an exciting era for coal,” a renewed effort to wean the nation off foreign oil and minimize the potential of being pulled into warfare over a source of fuel.

“Interestingly, standing at the forefront of the coal-to-liquids effort is the Air Force,” the 3rd District congressman said, noting the service is part of the CTL.

The Defense Department consumes the biggest share of the government’s fuel usage — 93 percent. Coal-derived fuels already have been tested by the Air Force, Rahall said.

“This, then, is a matter of national security,” he said.

“Indeed, national security lies at the heart of my support for coal-to-liquids fuels. To my friends in the environmental community, I say that we can capture the carbon at the plants that will produce these fuels.”

Rahall said the science exists to process such fuels that cause less mercury, sulfur dioxide and particulate pollution than the liquids now burned in ordinary motor vehicles.

What’s more, he said, coal is more practical than other sources of alternative fuels.

For instance, research by the University of Minnesota showed if the entire corn crop raised on all 70 million acres in this nation were used for ethanol, it would only displace 12 percent of the country’s gasoline market.

“As for electric vehicles, once you plug your car into that socket to charge it up, it is safe to assume that the energy source for producing that electricity is coal, regardless of how much wind and solar power we deploy in this country,” he said.

“So it all comes down to this — do we depend on our domestic coal resources or on foreign oil?”

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com