Coal combustion produces more greenhouse gases (GHG) than the combustion of any other fossil fuel.  Although natural gas is also a big contributor to GHG, it produces about half the emissions of coal.  Yet our federal government spends over a billion dollars annually on coal research.  In fact, there is a Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory, National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) that is almost completely dedicated to coal research.  The DOE funds a "Coal FIRST" initiative at over $80M per year.  DOE's Fossil Energy Research and Development Program (FER&D) FY2021 budget request is $931M with $546M targeted for Advanced Coal Energy Systems.

Even if climate change was not an issue, coal is expensive when compared to other power generation sources.  Solar photovoltaics and wind are now the cheapest form of energy generation with natural gas and geothermal a distant third and fourth cheapest.  Both solar and wind costs are rapidly decreasing, making the argument for funding any fossil fuel, but especially coal, a ridiculous waste of taxpayer money.

This petition recommends the immediate defunding of all coal research.  It further recommends the elimination of DOE's Fossil Energy Research and Development Program (FER&D) and repurposing of NETL to support retraining of coal industry workers with renewable energy and energy storage technologies.  We recommend that NETL leads Public-Private partnerships to establish factories in historic coal producing regions to supply US manufacturers with parts and raw materials to make America the world leader in producing clean energy products and services.

This is a win-win for the American taxpayer, coal producing regions, the environment, and American industry.  Please sign the petition if you agree.