State of the Union address: Will Obama back coal?
On the day of the State of the Union address, we hope President Obama听听of then candidate Obama.听 It was just a few years ago he stated:
鈥淭his is America 鈥� we figured out how to put a man on the moon in 10 years. You tell me we can鈥檛 find a way to burn coal that we mine right here in the United States of America and make it work.鈥�
A听听coming from Ohio State University shows that, as it turns out, candidate Obama was on the right track.听听reports, 鈥淥hio State University researchers say they have developed a way to create energy using coal while capturing 99 percent of carbon dioxide. The trick, they say, is not burning the fossil fuel, but using a chemical reaction to draw its energy.鈥�
鈥淭his, they say, is a huge step toward the promise of 鈥渃lean coal,鈥� something President Barack Obama has touted as the future of energy production in the United States.鈥�
The project is funded in part by the U.S. Department of Energy, and will be moving south to a larger-scale study at the agency鈥檚 U.S National Carbon Capture Center in Wilsonville, Ala.
While commitment to fully implementing 21st Century coal-based electricity seems to have wavered from the current administration, it鈥檚 clear that American ingenuity and know-how will continue to produce major developments in clean coal technologies for years to come.
