Clean Coal Programs Get 1.8B dollars Lift In Energy Plan

摘要

Utilities stand to receive up to 3.8 billion dollars in government subsidies for clean coal programs if Congress approves the Republican-backed energy bill, which was released this weekend after a month of bickering among House and Senate GOP leaders involved in the deliberations. The federal grants consist of 1.8 billion dollars for the White House-backed clean coal power initiative. About 60 pct of the total would funds research into coal gasification, with the rest going toward efforts to reduce emissions from conventional coal-burning power plants between 2004 and 2012. While the bill directs utilities to invest in mercury emissions cutting techniques, GOP leaders deliberately shied away from setting a cap for this neurotoxin because of uncertainty surrounding the level of cuts that can be achieved with existing and emerging technologies.