Clean Coal

This fall the Senate is expected take up a climate and energy bill that would establish a new agency within the Department of Energy to administer federal loan guarantees for private "clean" energy projects. The bill, the American Clean Energy Leadership Act of 2009 (S.1462), was passed by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in June.

The proposed new agency, the Clean Energy Deployment Administration (CEDA), would offer a range of financing options, including direct loans, letters of credit, loan guarantees and insurance for energy production, transmission and storage projects that emphasize so-called "breakthrough" technologies to reduce Global Warming emissions and energy consumption. Renewable energy, advanced nuclear, and coal carbon capture and storage projects all would qualify for assistance.

A group that pushed the clean-coal theme at the Democratic convention, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, will be heading to the Republican convention next week. Environmentalists have attacked the group as the latest in a string of industry propaganda mills.

http://www.desmogblog.com/