U.S. retreats on cleaner coal
The best way to cut down on the greenhouse gases produced by power generation is to reduce America's appetite for electricity. Renewable energy sources like wind power and biomass have a helpful role to play. Yet, dependable base sources will remain necessary, and coal-fired plants will probably be part of the mix for a long time. Minimizing the impact of such plants is vital. That is why it is so discouraging that the Bush administration pulled the plug on a project for using coal to produce power without carbon dioxide emissions. For five years, the Department of Energy, coal and power companies, and several countries, including China, have been partners in developing a plant in Mattoon, Illinois, that would convert coal to gas, allowing its carbon dioxide to be captured and stored underground. The Department of Energy said it withdrew its 75 percent support from FutureGen last month because its cost had almost doubled, from $1 billion to $1.8 billion. Some have suggested the real motive might have been lingering opposition to the choice of Mattoon by administration officials from Texas, which lost out in the selection process. Congress should call on the Government Accountability Office to investigate how the department made its decision to pull out. Five years of work have come to a dead end, and the country and the world are not much closer to knowing if coal can be part of the climate change solution and not just the climate change problem.