24 Hours After Touting Clean Coal In SOTU, White House Drops Ambitious Clean Coal Project
24 Hours After Touting Clean Coal In SOTU, White House Drops Ambitious Clean Coal Project
President Bush has long touted clean coal technology as a potential solution to global warming. In 2006, he insisted that the United States is “spending quite a bit of money here at the federal level to come up with clean-coal technologies.” During Monday’s State of the Union address, Bush said, “Let us fund new technologies that can generate coal power while capturing carbon emissions.”
Yet just 24 hours after his SOTU declaration, Bush’s Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman indicated the White House was pulling the plug on the ambitious FutureGen project, a clean coal plant that was touted as “the cleanest fossil fuel fired power plant in the world.”
In a meeting with lawmakers from Illinois — where FutureGen was set to be installed — Bodman “all but drove a stake in” the $1.5 billion project:
[Rep. Timothy] Johnson [R-IL] said Bodman told the group that he planned to disband FutureGen and go “in another direction.” At one point, Johnson and Bodman snapped at each other. At another, U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, a Chicago Democrat, told Bodman that “the first action taken by the president after the State of the Union was a series of broken promises.”
“In 25 years on Capitol Hill, I have never witnessed such a cruel deception,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said, hinting at the administration’s political considerations for the project’s demise. “When the city of Mattoon, Illinois, was chosen over possible locations in Texas, the secretary of energy set out to kill FutureGen.”
Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Robert Sussman notes that companies and governments around the world have committed to supporting FutureGen. “It would be a blow to future international public-private partnerships if the Bush administration were to allow these commitments to languish,” said Sussman.
UPDATE: The Washington Post reports that the Illinois lawmakers intend to appeal the decision to President Bush, and that Durbin “might block nominations to fill two key vacancies at the Energy Department.”
UPDATE II: DeSmogBlog and Gristmill have more.
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24 Hours After Touting Clean Coal In SOTU, White House Drops Ambitious Clean Coal Project
Another day, another deception.
January 30th, 2008 at 8:03 pmOMG, does this mean the Clean Coal Industry won’t sponsor any more debates??
January 30th, 2008 at 8:05 pmFor the record, this is no surprise, is it?
Read more:
January 30th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
http://tvnewslies.org/html/the_environment.html
January 30th, 2008 at 8:11 pmAnybody else wish we had DEMANDED the impeachment of Slimeball Bush in 2007? Hey, it’s not too late.
January 30th, 2008 at 8:12 pmBush has made a career of lying to the people of the United States, so should we be surprised that he lied about this. He is after all an oil man, and I don’t think that Exxon makes much money on clean coal.
January 30th, 2008 at 8:20 pmOne Million Windmills by 2010
Five Million Windmills by 2015
One Million Solar Paneled Buildings by 2010
Five Million Solar Paneled Buildings by 2015
And we can put 100,000+ Americans to work in the process!
January 30th, 2008 at 8:21 pmHEY!
don’t i get some kind of H/T or something???
i’ve posted this story at least 4 times…
guess i should’ve sent it direct…
ok… NOW i will read the thread…
January 30th, 2008 at 8:27 pmThis country is a joke.
Q: “What’s wrong with America?”
January 30th, 2008 at 8:27 pmA: “The American people.”
Another primitive little dance by the Chimp before both Houses of Congress in his SOTU address, with more empty grunts and more grunts, oooks, eeeks, mouth farts, and nothing of substance unless you consider whopping lies to be substantial. The only memorable lines from any of his SOTU speeches over the last seven years will have been the infamous “Uranium from Afrikahhhhhhhhhhhh”.
January 30th, 2008 at 8:34 pmmatter of fact, i brought it up in the “Tonight’s CNN debate” thread:
The coal industry is working with Department of Energy on a project to build a coal plant that captures close to 100% of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury – and provide for the capture and storage of carbon dioxide.
Comment by davidABEC — January 30, 2008 @ 2:45 pm
yea, davidABEC… and what happened to that?
i’m in effingham, 30 miles south of mattoon, where FutureGen was
SUPPOSED to be located, until they pulled the rug out from under, the day AFTER dubya touted the need for using “clean†coal…
http://uk.reuters.com/ article/ environmentNews/ idUKN2962235220080129
Comment by katy — January 30, 2008 @ 2:59 pm
to Katy: Don’t jump to any conclusions about the fate of FutureGen. It’s been zeroed out in the budget in prior years only to be revived by Congress. It is up to Congress yet again. The technology is here… the struggle is finding the money to pay for it.
Comment by davidABEC — January 30, 2008 @ 5:55 pm
f’n wingers … nothing but bullshite…
January 30th, 2008 at 8:35 pmIt’s just safer to assume that if a republican is talking it is lying. Keltoi.
January 30th, 2008 at 8:36 pmNow thats what I call compassion.
January 30th, 2008 at 8:39 pmfrom desmogblog:
But that won’t stop industry-funded third party groups like the “Americans for Balanced Energy Choices,” who will no doubt continue to pour (and probably increase the flow) millions of dollars into advertising and public relations to convince us that “clean coal” is a bargain basement solution to America’s energy problems.
that you, “davidABEC”?
uh huh…
so, i wonder where OBAMA stand on this… 3 guesses…
January 30th, 2008 at 8:42 pmAhh, such is life in a Banana Republic.
January 30th, 2008 at 8:58 pmAnd I’ll issue a signing statement on that remark invalidating my previous statement.
Painfully yours
does the president chew tobacco?
his teeth look terrible.
January 30th, 2008 at 9:05 pmBait and switch defines George W. Bush and his immoral f**ked up administration.
I cannot wait until this asshat of a pretender Pres is out of the WH
January 30th, 2008 at 9:10 pmBush, the last white male president. After his performance there may never be another.
January 30th, 2008 at 9:10 pm“Let us fund new technologies that can generate coal power while capturing carbon emissions.â€
No one seriously thinks that Bush was trying to offer a real solution to any problem, do they? The only solutions Bush has ever promoted for any problem are war and tax cuts.
“Mr. President, a giant asteroid is about to hit the Earth.”
“Umm, mmmm, well it’s ’bout time fer another one o’ them tax cuts, and let’s declare war on outer space while we’re at it.”
January 30th, 2008 at 9:13 pm“Clean coal” is a boondoggle anyway, which will lead to a return to vast, dangerous coal mining and offers questionable overall benefits in terms of actual greenhouse gas reduction.
We need to be looking for real alternatives, not returning to the 19th century.
January 30th, 2008 at 9:17 pmGeez.
Lies, lies everywhere and Nancy still can’t find a Table.
January 30th, 2008 at 9:50 pmWhere are the trolls to defend their master Chimp on this one?
I am curious what kind of twisted illogic they will try to defend this with.
LMAO
January 30th, 2008 at 9:54 pm24 Hours After Touting Clean Coal In SOTU, White House Drops Ambitious Clean Coal Project
January 30th, 2008 at 9:54 pmIt would be extremely shocking if bush actually did live up to one of his statements… dropping this in only 24 hours?.. are we surprised???
are we surprised???
Comment by had enough — January 30, 2008 @ 9:54 pm
Not really, but I am fairly disgusted.
January 30th, 2008 at 10:06 pmBut it is another perfect example to show that Bush has no concept of honor, at all.
How did we get in this mess? Answer: REPUBLICANS AND DIEBOLD.
January 30th, 2008 at 10:56 pmGo to the sorce and use mail in paper ballots and stop the fix. Anyone fixing ballots will be …..read my mind!
Are you surprised, Rahmmy?
January 30th, 2008 at 11:00 pmVery good catch! Good post, good investigative journalism right there!
Meanwhile on CNN, back to Heath, the most important story in America…
January 30th, 2008 at 11:42 pmThere is no such thing as CLEAN coal!
Make all of the political hay out of it that you want, but Democrats who push clean coal aren’t worth spit either.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:45 pmOff topic:
Here’s a great source of “anti-troll” arguments.
http://www.rationalrevolution.net/
January 30th, 2008 at 11:56 pmIn 25 years on Capitol Hill, I have never witnessed such a cruel deception,†Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said, hinting at the administration’s political considerations for the project’s demise.
Where the hell have you been for the last seven years, Dickie boy?
January 30th, 2008 at 11:58 pmDie Bush.
January 31st, 2008 at 12:33 amIsn’t “Clean Coal” a bad idea? seriously…I guess I don’t know enough about it. But if they pulled the plug it must be too “clean”, although I thought it was not really “clean” like it’s supposed to be anyway…so is this bad?
January 31st, 2008 at 12:52 amIsn’t “Clean Coal†a bad idea? seriously…I guess I don’t know enough about it. But if they pulled the plug it must be too “cleanâ€, although I thought it was not really “clean†like it’s supposed to be anyway…so is this bad?
Comment by evil_framers_of_the_constitution — January 31, 2008 @ 12:52 am
Clean Coal is just another fictional character in the right-wing arsenal, like Islamofascism, the free market, and Jack Bauer.
January 31st, 2008 at 6:29 amI live on the border of Appalachia. Oil may be king, but coal is still a crown prince. It is imperative that we find a way to get energy from coal, other than just burning it.
January 31st, 2008 at 9:00 amLook, I’m all for renewable energy, but where are we going to put these 5 million windmills? And the 5 million solar paneled buildings… That’s just not financially sound at this time. Current technologies aren’t cost effective for the most part. For example, there was a military base recently that spent an outrageous amount of money putting cells all over the top of parking garages and such all over the base. Unfortunately, the cost was such that they will never recover this cost by energy saved as the lifespan of the cells are far shorter than the projected break-even point.
Renewable energy sources like wind are great, and are a good supplement to our overall generation, but are not the only solution, and will not output enough electricity to end our coal dependency.
January 31st, 2008 at 9:14 amI live right near the Future Gen site. MY Wife has been in on the project nearly since the begining. Way back when they started looking at the project I told her that there was no way this adminsitraiton would allow a project like this to go to a state where the president does nto have large support. No way would they let it go toa state where both senators and the Gov are all democrats, no way in heck. It’s non-political she told me, the deicsion will be made by the Future Gen people, not the government. She would not believe that the project could be halted because of politics.
Well a few days before the site was announced officially most people around here knew that Mattoon had won the site, they really did have the best site and I’m not just saying that because I work and live nearby. But the DOE tried to halt the announcement. Once again I told her the project will not happen in Illinois under this adminsitration. They won the bidding and I stuck to my guns. The site selection may have been non-political, but funding is 100% political. And as I see it the withheld funding is part of a program of punishment to Illinois for not supportig Bush. The DOE has drasticall cut funding for FERMI lab and now they are threatening to cut Ethanol funding AND remove Ethanol tarifs. If that is the case we will see the US markets flooded with Brazillian Ethanol at much lower prices than it can be producd here in the states. Also it will cost companies in the states $$ profits, ethanol jobs and construction jobs for Ethanol plants uunder construction which could possibly be halted…afteralll why bother completing a $500million dollar project when you will not get the return on your investment that you need to make it profitable? Lastly it will cost the farmers by lowering grain prices which have been bid up because of Ethanol demand. The ripple effect of this with seed & fertilizer sales along with new equipment sales and other ag services etc… will not have a positive effect on our economy. All this to exact politcal punishment for states who do not support a failed president.
January 31st, 2008 at 10:01 amWhattya bet the project gets resurrected in Texas.
January 31st, 2008 at 10:15 amHe also said in the SOTU that more troops would be returning home from Iraq this year, then the next day said that they would be staying.
January 31st, 2008 at 10:19 amHe’s the bait-and-switch, signing statement, recess appointment, executive privilege president, determined to leave an even bigger mess for the next president, because he can.
People around here are already asking if the project could be revived under a new administration.
The Texas sites were terrible. The illinois site has coal mines within 40 miles. It can pump the CO2 striaght down, And the rock layer the CO2 gets pumped to has three caps to hold it in. It has the highway and community infrastructures available. A rail ine runs along one edge of the property. They have options to buy acreage around the site. The proper gague electrical lines are in place. The wastewater was going to be recycled to drinking water purity. The university of illinois (Great physics & Engineering departments) is 50 miles away. Mattoon is equidistant from Chicago, Indianapolis and St L0ouis etc. etc. etc…
The Texas sites do nto have the water, or coal, or rail or rally anything other than political connections. If all the criteria were laid out and then each sites qualifications were laid out blind and scored there would b no contest. The only thing Texas has over Mattoon or Tuscola (the other Illinois site) is a connection to the administration.
I felt all along that the whole project was designed to be a give away to the adminsitrations friends and that actual merit would have little impact on the final decision.
January 31st, 2008 at 10:41 amDon’t we know by now that George W. Bush always issues a signing statement on his SOTUs?
January 31st, 2008 at 10:55 amThe DOE is changing the playing field on this. Now they want to update the project to “save taxpayers money”. They contend the original project that started in 2003 with the FutureGen alliance is outmoded. That the Alliance can bid on the new revised DOE projects. The damning thing is the Secy of the DOE on Nov.30 2007 sent a letter to all the parties that the DOE was fully behind the project, no reservations or hints of problems were noted. They don’t like the decision of the independent alliance so they change the rules…typical of the behavior of these self serving, egocentric, neoconservatives in the Bush/Cheney admin. I don’t see any new Republican president going along with what had been previously planned. I have my doubts about Hillary, but maybe. She has a little bit of her roots from here. Obama has been noticeable quiet on this, but I guess he has other fish to fry right now. I would give it a snowballs chance in hell of getting any federal funds right now. Its really too bad because the area around Mattoon could use the economic boost.
January 31st, 2008 at 10:59 amRemember Chimpy touting the promise of using switchgrass to produce ethanol in the 2006 SOTU? The MSM, as well as most of the electorate, appears to have developed another convenient case of selective amnesia with regard to this, as well as many other pronouncements the Bubble Boy has made.
As with swinging a golf club or a baseball bat, follow through is extremely important, a quality the MSM does not choose to possess.
The only pronouncements we should take seriously from the Oval Office are those that promote the demise of the lower and middle classes of this country, curtailment of our precious liberties at home, squandering of the earth’s resources, evasion of accountability, and threats of murder and destruction abroad.
January 31st, 2008 at 11:00 amAs a funny aside. A local business man who is a huge Bush supporter (thinks he is among the very best presidents ever) and who is a huge land owner in the area as well as the operator of a chain of hardware/ram supply type stores is probably going to lose major $$ because of this decision.
January 31st, 2008 at 11:21 amAmerica is the Saudi Arabia of Coal, we hold 25% of the worlds PROVEN coal reserve which could be converted to oil, diesel and very high octane gasoline.
The Germans did it on a large scale in the 40s and we make synthetic oil now in the millions of barrels of oil a year.
This move was for oil companies to stay rich, without oil America slows down and Bush’s homeboys can’t be rich…
January 31st, 2008 at 11:22 amRe: #44 —
January 31st, 2008 at 11:28 amIf the oil companies were to purchase the coal companies with their idle billions in loot, then they could have it both ways, couldn’t they?
Oh, for a troll to explain to me in heated words how this is very brilliant and will help America.
Sigh.
January 31st, 2008 at 11:36 amwhat an idiot freak? dunno what he’s hooked on but he sures acts like a junkie!!!!
January 31st, 2008 at 3:25 pm11. Katy – wait for the other shoe to fall. Remember that Shrub has declared that fed agencies are free to ignore any earmarks.
January 31st, 2008 at 6:06 pmThere is no such thing as clean coal!
March 10th, 2008 at 8:15 amWe should be glad this thing is dead.
Unfortunately Barack Obama spent a lot of time fighting for this, and got a lot of donations from Exelon Energy…. around $275,000.