TPMDC notes the Senate stimulus bill includes $2 billion for "one or more near zero emissions powerplant(s)." Lots of renewable energy qualifies as near zero emissions, maybe even nuclear power, but Sen. Durbin says it's for carbon capture plants. Durbin plays cute about it, but that means clean coal and almost certainly the reincarnation of FutureGen demonstration plant back at its Illinois site, where Durbin and Obama are from.
FutureGen was intended to demonstrate whether clean coal with carbon sequestration was possible, and its previous collapse obviously didn't bode well for the concept of clean coal. I'd disagree with TPMDC that environmentalists are wholly opposed to it, though. We might as well see how expensive it really is. If it works at a feasible price, then we have something to offer the coal industry other than complete destruction. If not, then we'll know and plan accordingly.
Bonus climate blogging - a website on the history of climate change science via Weart's Discovery of Global Warming. Time for a new wikipedia article, I think.
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