Blago's Symbolic Parting Gift to Dirty Coal: Will Obama Follow?

Impeachment notwithstanding, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich signed a bill this week that will send another $18 million down the "clean coal" rabbit hole in Illinois.

The delusional symbolism couldn't be more obvious. In fact, the Chicago Tribune captured the carbon truth of the story:

"But coal is relatively inexpensive, at least for now, and the coal industry remains politically influential in a number of states. The Taylorville project represents a chance to help revive Illinois' beleaguered coal industry...

"Though coal companies and utilities have held up sequestration as the holy grail of "clean coal" for years, there still hasn't been a full-scale test of the technology. And even if carbon capture and storage works, most energy experts say, it will take decades to employ it at the scale necessary to significantly affect emissions.

"Indeed, though Illinois' proposed coal plant would emit less carbon dioxide than conventional power plants, it still would increase the overall amount of greenhouse gases the state produces."

As the Tribune reported last week, the Illinois congressional delegation has already been wrangling to include the FutureGen boondoggle in President-elect Barack Obama's stimulus package.

But as Joseph Romm has brilliantly explained (a million times), FutureGen's carbon capture and storage chimera is still wrought with four major problems: prohibitive cost, timing, scale, and permanence and transparency.

In fact, as Focus Midwest noted last month, the road to dealing with climate destabilization ultimately runs through Illinois and its coal-fired plants.

In the meantime, another report appeared last week about the epidemiological mystery in the tragic rise of black lung cases among coal miners today.

I wonder how long it will take until Illinois politicians apply the same amount of lobbying power to make sure a massive stimulus package includes FutureWind and FutureSolar clean job projects for the heartland?

Comments

[ChiProgressive]

We don't have enough money to pay medicaid to children's hospitals, yet the Illinois LEGISLATURE finds it a priority to waste our money on propaganda for "Clean Coal".

[mjb5406]

FutureWind and FutureSolar can get just as much political backing as long as they utilize FuturePoliticalContributions.

[Egalitare]

Now THAT is an impeachable offense!!

[Greenguy25]

18 million dollars could have employed 100 full time workers with the nations fastest growing solar maintenance company (Solar Maid). This is real work for the renewable energy industry, not some corporate pander scheme.

http://www.mygreenscene.com/thesolarmaidcompany/index.html

[LITNUP]

seeing as Illinois has more BTUs in its coal reserves than Saudi Arabia has in oil , Clean Coal (yes it is) at this moment is successfully powering the physical plant at Southern Illinois University, and it is 35 below with the wind chill here and sea ice levels are the same as 1979... The only boondoggle is the GlobalWarming fearmongering