Energy Secretary Steven Chu recently announced that $1 billion in stimulus funding was being targeted to restart the stalled FutureGen project.

This infusion of tax dollars will provide breathing room for the FutureGen project. Originally, FutureGen was to build a state of the art IGCC facility in Mattoon, IL. Synthetic natural gas from the facility would then be used to power a combined cycle generation plant. CO2 remaining after the gasification process would have been captured and stored underground in favorable Illinois geological sinks. Deep geology beneath the Meredosia site will not allow for carbon storage, however. Therefore, the Mattoon site is still being targeted for the physical sequestration of the CO2. A pipeline is expected to be built to transfer it from the Meredosia site.

Admin note: We recently invited ACC member and coal emissions reduction experts, ADA – Environmental Solutions to prepare an editorial for the Coalblog and quarterly newsletter. In this article, they describe how they are helping their clients prepare for the changes to the EPA MACT rules. We invite you to check out the article and ADAs website (www.adaes.com) to learn more about their products and services.

Getting Ready for MACT

Daniel Simmons, Director of State Affairs

Institute for Energy Research

Thursday, May 27th ~ 1:30-2:15 pm Eastern

To register, go to: https://www.etouches.com/12523

The Waxman-Markey energy bill (H.R. 2454) which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in June 2009, establishes a national renewable portfolio standard (RPS) of 20% in 2020 from renewable sources or increased efficiency. The Senate is likely to consider a “clean energy standard” that would include not only renewables but also nuclear energy and clean coal. Colorado recently passed legislation requiring utilities to generate 30% of their electricity from renewables by 2020. About 35 states have renewable or alternative energy standards in place.

Scientists at Industrial Technologies describe how they are building “industrial blood” as a means of capturing CO₂ from flue gas. They are developing a system that mimics the ability of blood to remove CO₂ from the body using carbolic anhydrase to create bicarbonate ions, which are then released from the lungs using a reaction (involving zinc, amino acids, and hydroxyl ion).

Ralph Hillman, Executive Director of the Australian Coal Association discusses Australian efforts to implement carbon capture and storage (CCS), the recent Senate vote on the ETS, and the COP15 conference in Copenhagen.

The Australian Senate has voted against their proposed emissions trading scheme (ETS) a second time. Further debate saw the Senate then reject a motion for a third reading of the bill. (The Aussie emissions trading scheme is similar to the American Cap & Trade climate bill in that it aims to cap greenhouse gas emissions through legislated caps and by imposing higher costs on GHG emissions.)

via wsj.com

Don Blakenship, CEO of Massey Energy comments on the use of coal and climate science on this E&E TV interview.

Click here for the transcript of the interview.

Trying to read through the many emails and stories on this issue this morning. I’ll be updating this post as I go along.

At first blush, it appears that servers at the Hadley CRU – NOTE: this Realclimate.org posting notes that the files and email came from the University of East Anglia mail servers, not the Hadley CRU – may have been hacked and over 1,000 emails and many associated files have been copied and released onto the Internet — they may also have been leaked by an insider.

The NY Times is reporting the three main players in the development of a new climate bill are busily wordsmithing and trying to build the 60 votes needed to push the bill through the senate. The same article also notes that Senators Kerry, Graham, and Lieberman will have a very short window of opportunity to get their bill passed before the mid-term elections make the issue too toxic for those facing a difficult campaign season.

The new year is still seven weeks away, but the 2010 clock is already ticking for advocates of a sweeping global warming and energy bill.