The Department of Energy stated that they abandoned FutureGen (a different plant with a similar approach) due to cost overruns. It's not Bush's conspiratorial revenge for placing it in Illinois instead of Texas. Two coal companies pulled out for the same reason. It's the same reason that FutureGen and the Taylorville Tenaska plant are seeking billions in government subsidies.
Unproven clean coal technologies are not economically feasible without massive taxpayer subsidies and will result in higher utility rates. There's no economic advantage to clean coal over real renewable energies like wind power or energy efficiency programs.
So, when the state of Illinois provides subsidies to coal projects, and requires that utilities buy expensive power from experimental new plants, it's not designed to help anyone except the coal industry. It's not a realistic solution to global warming. It's not clean. It's not affordable energy for consumers. It's nothing but a desperate attempt by the coal industry to remain economically viable in a new energy economy.
You might as well spend a billion dollars designing the world's fastest, cleanest, jet-powered horse and buggy ride. FutureBuggy!
(Mountaintop removal coal mining site)
Doug's post about the Taylorville Tenaska plant got me thinking about this today. He linked an SJR article about the state's latest effort to subsidize the new plant and artificially raise prices on consumers.
The article includes a vomit-inducing quote from state representative Garry Hannig about concerns raised by utility company Commonwealth Edison.
“They were concerned that some of the cost might be excessive,” Hannig said. “Now the Illinois Commerce Commission will have an opportunity to say yes or no to that. We have to prove to the power companies that we can produce this in Taylorville in a clean and economically feasible way.”
Prove to the power companies? This is typical of the General Assembly mindset that treats legislation like a negotiation between interest group lobbyists while the interests of the average person are a distant afterthought.
No, Representative Hannig, you don't have to prove anything to Commonwealth Edison. You have to prove to consumers and voters in Illinois that you aren't needlessly raising our utility bills to prop up a profitable coal industry.
How disgusting that it took another utility company to make Hannig and his colleagues finally show concern over how his bill will hit consumers! And doesn't it trigger alarms that even a utility company is publicly worried about how high this will raise rates?
I don't have a problem with the coal industry doing research. But when they come asking for corporate welfare payments then we need to ask what priorities make the most sense for everyone.
It's time to have a discussion about what options are best for consumers, the environment and the economic growth of downstate Illinois instead of letting coal industry lobbyists delude us into thinking that clean coal is a realistic solution.