Gore Questions Role Of Clean Coal, Nuclear In Emissions Regime

摘要

As he pushed for quick action on carbon emissions caps in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week, former Vice President A1 Gore painted a bleak picture for the role of clean coal and nuclear power under such a regime, taking aim at two issues that will be a key part of any climate change legislation. The focus of the hearing was Gore's six-step proposal for the "Road to Copenhagen"-the global climate change summit slated for December 2009 (see related story). However, much of the hearing was spent discussing coal and nuclear's place in a carbon-constrained world. "I think it's quite responsible to support robust research into whether or not it might, in the future, become possible to safely capture and sequester CO_2 from coal plants," Gore told Senators, but added that, "we should not delude ourselves about the likelihood that that's going to occur in the near term or even the mid term. It is extremely expensive.