Understanding Government

Matthew Wald of the New York Times reported yesterday that the American Electric Power coal company has terminated a planned “full-scale carbon-capture plant” in West Virginia, because the political incentives are no longer there to invest in so-called clean coal technology that captures carbon dioxide emissions before they enter the atmosphere. A similar turn of events happened last August in Illinois: the “FutureGen” clean coal project died, because the energy companies involved no longer wanted to invest. These companies not coincidentally backed out as the chance of Congress passing a cap-and-trade bill withered on the vine. (more…)

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed a bill yesterday that lets Chicago Clean Energy build a $3 billion coal gasification plant in a rundown section of southeast Chicago, reports the Chicago Tribune. The Illinois EPA, though, opposes the bill: They do not want Chicago Clean Energy (a subsidiary of the Leucadia National Corp. holding company in New York) to add pollution to an already highly polluted area. Environmental groups and consumer advocates also oppose the plant as too environmentally costly and too expensive. The gasification plant appears to be another flawed idea as Illinois figures out what do with its coal resources. (more…)

When a government project is described with terms like “case study in government dysfunction and bureaucratic inertia” and “epic fiasco,” there appears to be no upside.  The planned nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, as Joel Achenbach and Brian Vastag report it in the Washington Post, fully deserves these labels.  After the government spent$15 billion over nearly three decades to build a five-mile deep tunnel for radioactive waste storage, it turned out that the facility wasn’t “as geologically isolated as hoped,” meaning that it can leak hazardous materials into the surrounding water supply.  When you’re talking about uranium and plutonium, there’s only one possible response: don’t build it. (more…)

Katherine Yeung of the Detroit Free-Press has a good piece on three delayed alternative energy projects in Michigan.  The companies involved are waiting to see if they will get a loan guarantee from the U.S. Energy Department. The projects are for a renewable energy park, a solar cell manufacturing factory and a cellulosic ethanol plant. Besides the long-term benefits of developing alternative energy sources, the projects “represent $1.2 billion in new investment in the state and more than 3,800 new jobs.”

Why is the Energy Dept. dragging its feet on supporting projects in line with Barack Obama’s desire to invest in clean energy? (more…)

The verdict is in: Chicago’s use of federal stimulus money for weatherization was a glaring failure. The Chicago Tribune’s Kristen Schorsch and Julie Wernau had a long piece this weekend of the main Chicago non-profit in charge using federal stimulus money to weatherize homes. The federal Energy Dept. and state of Illinois gave the Community and Economic Development Association of Cook County $90 million toward weatherization — part of $5 billion contained in the stimulus for weatherization. But, “As CEDA’s part in the federal stimulus program heads into its final months, contractors continue to fail in 1 in 7 inspections, and a federal plan to fix mistakes revealed in a blistering audit last year still hasn’t been completed.” (more…)