US pulls plug on low-CO2 powerplant project

Geoffrey.landis writes: "The administration announced plans to withdraw its support from FutureGen, a project to develop a low CO2-emission electrical power plant, supported by an alliance of a dozen or so coal companies and utilities from around the world. The new plant would have captured carbon dioxide produced by combustion and pumped it deep underground, to avoid releasing greenhouse-gas into the atmosphere. It had been intended as a prototype for next generation clean-coal plants worldwide. Originally budgeted at about a billion dollars, the estimated cost had "ballooned" to $1.8 billion, according to U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman. About half of the United State's current electricial power production comes from coal-fired power plants.

Wired and the Wall Street Journal also commented on the story."