On the campaign trail, Barack Obama said that he would make sure the coal industry isn't a casualty of legislation to slow climate change. So Obama vowed to promote the construction of new power plants that produce electricity by burning coal with lower carbon dioxide emissions than conventional plants.

In his Blueprint for Change, Obama pledged to "enter into public-private partnerships to develop five 'first-of-a-kind' commercial-scale coal-fired plants with clean carbon capture and sequestration technology." Supporters of the technology like to call this "clean coal."

President Obama has taken the first step in fulfilling his promise by resurrecting FutureGen, a plant abandoned by the Bush administration because of its cost. The project's demonstration facility in Mattoon, Ill., received $1 billion from the economic stimulus package, which we explored in this post back in February. The Energy Department released the cash on June 12, 2009.
 
"This important step forward for FutureGen reflects this administration"s commitment to rapidly developing carbon capture and sequestration technology as part of a comprehensive plan to create jobs, develop clean energy and reduce climate change pollution,” said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. "The FutureGen project holds great promise as a flagship facility to demonstrate carbon capture and storage at commercial scale. Developing this technology is critically important for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. and around the world.”
 
An additional $400 million or more will come from the 20 private companies involved in the FutureGen Alliance.
 
Coal is used widely in the United States — it generates about half of our electricity — but it's also responsible for about 36 percent of our annual carbon emissions. That helps to explain Obama's political calculations. The biggest detractors of a cap-and-trade plan are lawmakers from coal states such as West Virginia, who fear their coal mining industries will suffer under a plan to limit carbon emissions. And lawmakers from Southern states, where solar, wind and other forms of alternative energy are not as accessible, are worried their constituents will be left without power. The new coal technologies will keep both economies thriving, supporters say.
 
In his promise, Obama pledged to develop five facilities like FutureGen, so he's only one-fifth of the way there. However, the Energy Department's announcement is a step in that direction, so for now we give him an In the Works.