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.

A new study just released by ACCCE demonstrates that the coal industry and clean coal technologies could provide many thousands of new jobs for American workers. This would be a huge boon to the economy as we rebuild our way out of the recession.

The deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies at advanced coal facilities would create or support more than 150,000 jobs nationally, according to a study released today by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE). The study done for ACCCE by BBC Research & Consulting found that 1.7 million job years1 of labor would be created through the construction of 124 new advanced coal facilities by 2025.

More video content from our friends at ACCCE.

In this video, you get to meet a few of the people involved with the advancement of Clean Coal Technology.

Longview Power, a new, 695 MW (net) supercritical pulverized coal is currently under construction in Maidsville, W Va. The $2.0 billion investment in new, clean coal technologies represents the largest privately-funded power project in state history. $500 million of the total cost is dedicated to environmental controls and the fuel for the project will be sourced locally.

Learn more about the Longvew Power Project at www.longviewpower.com.

The just released 2009 National Coal Council Report, “LOW-CARBON COAL: MEETING U.S. ENERGY, EMPLOYMENT AND CO2 EMISSION GOALS WITH 21ST CENTURY TECHNOLOGIES” is a treasure trove of information and updates on the state of the North American Coal Industry and coal-based energy.

The study reviews essential low-carbon energy options like CCS and how they can be (and are being) implemented. Also considered are costs and timelines for commercial development of CCS, how existing generation assets can be retrofitted with CCS and other efficiency improving upgrades, specific technologies for the capture and storage of CO₂, as well as coal beneficiation, and underground coal gasification . The study also tackles the legal and regulatory issues that must be addressed to ensure CCS can move forward and then considers the role of the United States as a technology leader in the development and deployment of clean coal technologies.

America’s Power has an excellent resource on clean coal technology and research across the U.S. available.

If you need information on the over $12 billion in CCS & CCT installations and research that’s going on across 43 states, head to the America’s Power website to learn more.

The Democrat Herald has a good editorial describing just how badly the latest Sierra Club anti-coal push misses the mark. Hasso Hering, (the author) describes how simple things like the fact that there’s no coal at Oregon State University appear to have escaped the movement’s organizers.

Hering then notes that if they expect OSU to stop buying their electricity from utilities that have coal in their generation portfolio, they will essentially have to give up on electricity or create their own special utility for their energy. Furthermore, he notes that while coal does have environmental impacts associated with its use, so do all the alternatives.