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Science has come up with a way to burn coal to generate electric power with near zero emissions. Near zero emissions. And the state of Texas is taking steps to be the first in the country to develop this non-polluting power technology.
Coal burning power plants are cheap to operate but they’re a disaster environmentally because they generate so much air pollution. Now, there’s a way to capture emissions from coal burning plants and convert them into a liquid that can be stored deep underground. The U.S. Department of Energy likes this idea so much it’s offering a one billion dollar grant to build a prototype plant, and Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams says he wants it for Texas.
Williams says the state’s Bureau of Economic Geology has agreed to develop the Texas response to the DOE’s request for proposals from states interested in the Future-Gen project. State Geologist Dr. Scott Tinker says this is a rare win-win for consumers and the environment.
The technolology is called IGCC, Integrated Gas Combined Cycle, and the Clean Coal Foundation of Texas says it’s a direct response to President Bush’s Climate Change and Hydrogen Fuels Initiative, a public-private partnership working to develop new clean coal technologies. At least one environmental group supports it. Scott Anderson of the Environmental Defense Fund says it’s an idea whose time has come.