My Trip to Azerbaijan in Defense of Coal

As we approach the end of the year, multiple foreign summits gather and deliberate.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit took place in Peru, where President Biden and China’s President Xi Jinping were in attendance. APEC is a partnership focused on economic growth in the Pacific and regional integration of the member country’s economies.

President Biden then visited Brazil for the G20 Leaders’ Summit, along with the leaders of the 19 member countries, the African Union and the European Union. These forums serve as opportunities to discuss economic issues related to trade and international development finance.

Biden held no press conferences at the summits, and he was left out of a photo with G20 world leaders due to “logistical issues.”

Outside of Latin America, a different summit was also taking place.

The small Caucasian country of Azerbaijan, situated on the Caspian Sea and tucked north of Iran and south of Russia, served as host to COP29, the United Nations (UN) climate change conference.

I participated in a Congressional delegation to COP29 to advocate for strengthened American energy leadership and inform the world of leading technologies we have here at home in America that can be models for other countries to use as the world will continue to rely on fossil fuels well into this century.

Of the seven of us who attended representing the United States House, I came as the only representative from a district with heavy ties to coal.

In a featured press conference, the delegation stressed emissions reduction solutions that do not sacrifice American innovation, economic development, or national security.

Following the press conference, a radical activist approached me at the dais and accused me of being a traveling salesman for American fossil fuels!

If she had added American innovation for making it possible to use those fuels more effectively and cleanly, she would have been right.

Many environmentalists are unsatisfied with the world’s climate progress and accuse the United States of being a principal agent of greenhouse gas emissions.

I agree that we should mitigate carbon. But in the United States, we are embracing technologies that reduce our emissions.

U.S. carbon dioxide emissions from the energy sector have declined by 14.5 percent since 2007.

Meanwhile, China continues its track record of being the world’s worst polluter. Their energy-related emissions increased by almost 80 percent between 2005 and 2019, according to data from the International Energy Agency, an intergovernmental organization that follows the global energy sector.

What’s worse is countries like China and India are treated as developing countries thanks to outdated UN classifications. Accordingly, they are not obligated or expected to contribute to climate finance aid like the U.S. and European powers do.

Further, under the Paris Accords, reached when COP met in Paris, China was allowed to continue increasing its carbon dioxide emissions until 2030.

America leads in emissions reduction technologies, and the Ninth District is the home of innovative companies dedicated to capturing and mitigating carbon.

For example, Pulaski’s MOVA Technologies cultivates an accomplished team to produce innovative technologies related to advanced air emissions filtration for numerous substances.

MOVA received a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to advance a project capturing ammonia at poultry operations.

CNX Resources of Tazewell County is removing methane directly from working coal mines, instead of flushing the methane directly into the atmosphere.

Virginia Tech’s Project CARDINAL is also exploring the feasibility of carbon dioxide storage in the region.

Later, as a part of COP29, I was a panelist on a bipartisan nuclear energy panel.

Nuclear energy, when done right, enables prosperity and helps counter climate risks a community may be facing.

This Congress, I supported the bipartisan ADVANCE Act and voted to favorably report it out of the Energy and Commerce Committee. The bill has now become law and will modernize America’s nuclear energy licensing policy with sweeping updates.

Such updates include establishing more efficient permitting for many types of traditional nuclear technologies and allowing for new nuclear technologies like Kairos Power’s Hermes 2 Generation IV reactor in Oak Ridge, TN.

Appalachian Power Company recently announced plans to locate a small modular reactor in neighboring Campbell County.

Small modular reactors could be key nuclear pathways to provide more reliable, affordable and secure energy for major industrial development.

These solutions can help lower global emissions. I want to be sure that the United States pushes meaningful solutions, where we can lower our energy costs at home while cultivating appropriate stewardship of the environment.

If you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact my office. You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671. To reach my office via email, please visit my website at www.morgangriffith.house.gov.