Bush Put Clean Coal and Carbon Capture Back a Decade, Chide Democrats

Scrapping the FutureGen project was the nadir for me when it came to studying the Bush Administration and energy. The former President was never a pal to the environment or global warming (although scientists close to the White House have told me that George W. was actually more keen on the idea of alternatives than the VP or members of his cabinet.).

Still, when the White House turned on the coal industry and canceled FutureGen, a $1.8 billion project to build a power plant with a sequestration facility, I was shocked. Didn’t see that coming at all. The problem was a budget issue too. This from an administration that ran up some of the biggest deficits in global history. The industry was paying half the bill, by the way.

Democrats on the House Committee on Science and Technology now plan to release a report stating that the cancellation put back carbon capture by a decade, according to the WSJ’s Environmental Capital blog. Worse, they estimate that it would have only cost $1.3 billion.

The report, as quoted by the WSJ, says that DOE staffers told the administration:

Without FutureGen, the availability of affordable coal fueled [carbon capture and sequestration] plants would be delayed at least 10 years and will not allow widespread deployment of CCS until near 2040. Affordable CCS technologies will not be available in time to meet the expected turnover of the existing fleet of coal power plants in the US, nor for incorporation into the development of the world’s massive coal resources in countries such as China and India.

Two things may come out of this. One, more criticism about past policies. Two, more funding for clean coal. Many environmentalists hate the concept, but the U.S. gets half of its electrical power from coal. Unless we agree that odd-numbered addresses only get power Monday, Wednesday, Friday and half of Sunday, coal is here for now. China’s economy depends on it too.