Administration Will Likely Scrap FutureGen Carbon Sequestration Project

The Bush Administration will likely withdraw its $1.5 billion in support for the FutureGen coal-fired power plant in Illinois. The plant was to be the flagship demonstration project for carbon capture and sequestration technology, which would divert carbon emissions from coal combustion and bury them underground. As coal-burning plants provide approximately half of United State electricity needs, commercial-scale implementation of CCS technology is the one of the key steps to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Bob Sussman has more on the impact of scuttling the project at the CAP site:

Once projects like FutureGen demonstrate the viability of CCS technology, we must have a new source performance standard for all new coal fired power plants that requires they reduce their emissions by 85 percent, just like the FutureGen.  In addition, the auction of greenhouse gas emission allowances should provide resources to help the new coal plants pay for the additional costs of CCS.

What’s more, this project would have proven that global warming solutions can mean new jobs, and new markets and investments in business in the United States. These are jobs that would be concentrated in areas such as construction and manufacturing that provide family-supporting wages, skill development, and career ladders. And once the technology is in place, it can be exported to markets in other countries such as China, which plans to build many coal plants.

Tags: Energy

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