U.S. Abandons Clean Coal Project

[Gonad]

Link.

Clean coal loses funding in United States

Wednesday, 06/02/2008

The push for so-called clean coal technology is running out of steam in the United States.

Plans to build a prototype power plant, designed to burn coal to produce electricity and then store carbon underground, have been cancelled by the US government which says it's rethinking the approach to clean coal altogether.

It's a bad sign for Australian research, with the technology regarded as one way for the industry to overcome environmental concerns.

Luke Popovich from the United States National Mining Association says the US coal industry is disappointed

"We are disappointed at this rather abrupt decision, whice reverses a committment that we thought we had from the administration, for a large-scale project that would be the first of its kind, to demonstrate how we might generate coal in a power plant, and capture and store the CO2 emissions", he says.

But while acknowledging the decision is a blow, the NSW Minister for Energy Resources, Ian Macdonald, says he does not think it's the end of the road for clean coal R&D, and says other projects are still on track.

 

[Ancalagon]

This was a big deal for Alabama Power the largest user of coal (percentage wise), I'm sure they are very dissapointed.

Now does this mean the end of the project, or just the end of Government Financing? Will the Energy Cos still get the normal subsidies for R&D?