It seems that come hell or high water, the coal industry will do about anything [2] to convince us that "clean coal" technology is an affordable energy solution.
They're even willing to burn hundreds of millions of US taxpayers dollars to convince us.
Today, the US Department of Energy announced it will pull out [3] of a $1.8 billion "clean coal" demonstration project called FutureGen.
FutureGen [4] is meant to test the commercial and environmental viability of using coal to generate energy while capturing the carbon dioxide and storing it underground. Scientists say the greenhouse gas is one of the drivers of climate change.
On the announcement, Dave Roberts [5] at Grist writes:
What's behind the decision? "Ballooning costs." But wait ... I thought coal was cheap!?"
The costs of the FutureGen "clean coal" project have jumped from $800 million in 2003 to anticipated $1.33 billion.
With this announcement today by the DOE, it appears that the hope of "clean coal" remains to be nothing more than a distant twinkle in the eye of the coal lobby.
But that won't stop industry-funded third party groups like the "Americans for Balanced Energy Choices," [6] who will no doubt continue to pour (and probably increase the flow) millions of dollars into advertising and public relations to convince us that "clean coal" is a bargain basement solution to America's energy problems.