Democratic Underground - Higher Costs Cited as U.S. Shuts Down Coal Project

Source: NY Times

WASHINGTON — The Energy Department on Wednesday canceled its main program for demonstrating how to use coal without adding to global warming, saying the project needed an overhaul to rein in soaring costs.

The announcement ends a program started four years ago and described at the time as “one of the boldest steps our nation has taken toward a pollution-free energy future.” The program, called FutureGen, was also intended to provide hydrogen for fuel-cell cars and other uses.

But the estimated cost has risen to about $1.8 billion from $1 billion, and officials feared it would increase. The department said it would start over with a new program, but that is unlikely to happen before the Bush administration leaves office.

The deputy secretary of energy, Clay Sell, said that the program would be revamped to split off the costs of building a new coal-fired power plant, which would be paid for by the project’s industrial partners, from the cost of the technology to capture the emissions of carbon dioxide, which the government would help finance.

NY Times

What, no creative financial vehicles or structured whatevers? Do 'we' get a rebate of the tax benefits given to the coal industry in the Energy bill?

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