rss‘Clean Coal’ Takes Another Hit in Final Stimulus Bill
Thursday, February 12, 2009 at 4:41 pm
- 8 Comments
The past 24 hours have not been kind to King Coal.
First, plans to open new coal power plants in Michigan and Nevada were put on hold, and Gov. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) came out against a South Carolina plant, all due to environmental concerns and anticipated carbon emissions controls.
Now, the details of the compromise stimulus bill, expected to get a vote in Congress tomorrow, reveal that funding for so-called clean coal has been stripped from the package altogether.
The House bill did not provide for clean coal funding, but the Senate version contained two provisions to support the industry. The first provided $2 billion for “near zero emissions power plants,” likely clean coal plants such as Illinois’ FutureGen. The second made $1 billion “available for selections under the Department’s Clean Coal Power Initiative Round III Funding Opportunity Announcement.”
Neither of these provisions survived in the compromise reached yesterday.
The whole concept of clean coal has been dismissed as everything from an oxymoron to a nightmare. President Obama spoke out in favor of clean coal on the campaign trail, but today’s news indicates that the country’s energy future lies elsewhere, and it’s unlikely that Obama will resist.
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8 Comments
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Comment posted February 13, 2009 @ 4:15 am
Certainly ending coal as a fuel can only be part of a global change. No longer can we afford fossil fuels being burnt for energy use willy-nilly: our continued life on this planet cannot stand it
Comment posted February 13, 2009 @ 7:31 am
Not exactly, according to Dow Jones. The say, “The deal includes $3.4 billion in funding for 'fossil energy' research, primarily what is called carbon dioxide sequestration projects…” That's support for “clean coal” (and outrageous in my mind). I suggest you take this post down or revise it.
Comment posted February 13, 2009 @ 9:57 am
I'm not sure where Dow Jones is getting that information. Everywhere else, it's being reported that the $4.6 billion for funding related to carbon sequestration and coal has been stripped out. From Grist, for example:
“The Senate version of the bill had contained $4.6 billion for the research and development of carbon-capture-and-sequestration technologies for coal-fired power plants and $50 billion in loan guarantees for the nuclear industry, but that funding appears to have been dropped entirely, to the delight of enviros.”
Looking at the actual bill itself, there are only a few references to carbon. First, in Part IV, section 1131, there are minor modifications to the wording of preexisting provisions related to carbon (eg. “Section 45Q(a)(2) is amended by striking 'and' at the end of the subparagraph”). Then, in Section 48C, a list of project types that will qualify for “advanced energy project credit” includes “property designed to capture and sequester carbon dioxide emissions.” But this is listed below such projects as solar, wind, geothermal, fuel cells, etc. All of this is in the tax portion of the bill. There is no mention of carbon in the spending portion.
It appears that the $4.6 billion from the Senate bill has indeed by stripped. I would need to see where Dow Jones is getting its info from, but I'm skeptical of their conclusions.
Comment posted February 13, 2009 @ 10:01 am
Hmm, now ProPublicais also reporting that the bill contains $3.4 billion for “Fossil energy research and development.” I'll need to look into this further. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Comment posted February 13, 2009 @ 3:31 pm
Not exactly, according to Dow Jones. The say, “The deal includes $3.4 billion in funding for 'fossil energy' research, primarily what is called carbon dioxide sequestration projects…” That's support for “clean coal” (and outrageous in my mind). I suggest you take this post down or revise it.
Comment posted February 13, 2009 @ 5:57 pm
I'm not sure where Dow Jones is getting that information. Everywhere else, it's being reported that the $4.6 billion for funding related to carbon sequestration and coal has been stripped out. From Grist, for example:
“The Senate version of the bill had contained $4.6 billion for the research and development of carbon-capture-and-sequestration technologies for coal-fired power plants and $50 billion in loan guarantees for the nuclear industry, but that funding appears to have been dropped entirely, to the delight of enviros.”
Looking at the actual bill itself, there are only a few references to carbon. First, in Part IV, section 1131, there are minor modifications to the wording of preexisting provisions related to carbon (eg. “Section 45Q(a)(2) is amended by striking 'and' at the end of the subparagraph”). Then, in Section 48C, a list of project types that will qualify for “advanced energy project credit” includes “property designed to capture and sequester carbon dioxide emissions.” But this is listed below such projects as solar, wind, geothermal, fuel cells, etc. All of this is in the tax portion of the bill. There is no mention of carbon in the spending portion.
It appears that the $4.6 billion from the Senate bill has indeed by stripped. I would need to see where Dow Jones is getting its info from, but I'm skeptical of their conclusions.
Comment posted February 13, 2009 @ 6:01 pm
Hmm, now ProPublicais also reporting that the bill contains $3.4 billion for “Fossil energy research and development.” I'll need to look into this further. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
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