The Department of Energy has established the Advanced Environmental Control Technology Program to protect the environment while supporting the development of more efficient and acceptable technologies utilizing domestic fossil fuels. This program consolidates cleanup efforts in ongoing technology-specific DOE programs (such as combustion and gasification, and cleanup projects transferred from EPA to DOE) with new project initiates into a coordinated program that addresses cleanup technology development. There are numerous problems associated with using coal to replace oil and gas as a primary fuel. Sulfur, nitrogen, alkali and halogen compounds, and mineral particulate matter, all found in varying proportions in the domestic coals, are released during gasification and combustion. These contaminants of coal, as well as the soot and tars produced by incomplete combustion or gasification, can potentially degrade the performance of the energy-producing system.