Other Climate/Energy News – Page 38

January 30, 2008

Feds pull support for coal plant

The U.S. Department of Energy, frustrated by ballooning costs for an ambitious plan to build a virtually emissions-free power plant, told federal lawmakers Tuesday it plans to pull its support for the $1.8 billion project in Illinois, lawmakers said.

The Energy Department would not publicly divulge its intentions about the plant, dubbed FutureGen, or discuss what was said during the private meeting with lawmakers, saying only that it planned an announcement within days.

But some lawmakers who attended the briefing later insisted that any departure from building the coal-fired, 275-megawatt prototype power plant anywhere other than the central Illinois town of Mattoon would be unacceptable — and grounds for a possibly nasty congressional fight.

Rad the entire story here:

http://www.trib.com/articles/2008/01/30/news/wyoming/d49877b2c915972c872573df007fcba3.txt

January 24, 2008

WY Committee endorses CO2 capture

CHEYENNE – After hearing Gov. Dave Freudenthal say Wyoming needs to be out front in regulating new ways of permanently storing greenhouse gas underground, a legislative committee Wednesday endorsed two proposed measures dealing with carbon capture and sequestration in the state.

The Legislature’s Joint Judiciary Interim Committee endorsed proposals that would give the state Department of Environmental Quality regulatory oversight of carbon dioxide (CO2) storage in the state and recognize that surface owners control the underground voids where the gas would be stored.

Both proposals will be considered by the Legislature when it meets next month.

Read the entire story here:

http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/01/24/news/wyoming/21-co2.txt

January 24, 2008

Alberta unveils new climate change policy

The Stelmach government released a new climate change policy Thursday morning that aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 14 per cent of 2005 levels by 2050 – a far weaker policy than what Ottawa has proposed.

Alberta’s updated policy focuses largely on carbon capture and storage and has long-term goals of cutting emissions 200 megatonnes by 2050 – equal to a 14-per-cent reduction from 2005 levels. About 70 per cent of those reductions are expected to be achieved through carbon sequestration.

Read the entire story here:

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=598df98f-3805-4e29-bc2a-fc7a21f5f6b1&k=35593