'CLEAN-COAL' ELECTRICITY UNPLUGGED

WASHINGTON — The Energy Department canceled its program for demonstrating how to use coal for electric power without adding to global warming, saying the project needed an overhaul to rein in soaring costs. $1.8 Billion was proposed to fund FutureGen, a 275 megawatt coal-fired plant, and officials feared the cost would increase. The Department said, however, that the cancellation did not represent a step away from coal as a fuel. About $40 Million of taxpayers money has already been spent on the project, and the final subsidies were projected to be about $1 Billion. For the full NY Times report, click here.

The new proposal is to have industry add carbon-capturing systems paid for by taxpayers to planned commercial plants built by industry. Is Capturing CO2 a Pipe Dream? Click here for more.

SIDNEY -- Australian coal companies contributed more than $50 million to the FutreGen project. A Greens senator, Christine Milne, called on the Australian Government to pull taxpayers money out of FutureGen and other projects saying the clean coal strategy had collapsed. "Government funding for FutureGen and any other clean coal pipedreams should be withdrawn in favour of renewable technologies that are up and running now." For the full story, click here.

The above articles discuss only the monetary costs. What about the environment? Environmental destruction by strip mining and mountaintop removal, and the pollution generated by coal transportation by rail will remain. What about future generations? Coal is not a renewable energy source. Give clean, renewable energy sources like wind, solar and geothermal a chance, and grow new 'green-collar' jobs!