Although construction has begun on a carbon capture and storage plant (CCS) in Illinois, a lawsuit and a looming grant deadline make it a poster child for the difficulties facing CCS worldwide. “The repeated delays for FutureGen show how grim the bigger picture is for projects aimed at capturing and burying carbon dioxide,” Talbot reports. “The International Energy Agency estimates that to make any dent on slowing the emissions that cause climate change, such storage activity must increase more than a hundredfold worldwide in the next 15 years or so—far beyond what’s being planned or constructed right now.” In Meredosia, IL, the $1.65-billion FutureGen plant depends on $1 billion in federal stimulus funding that backers received in 2010, with the understanding that they must use it or lose it by September 2015. The Sierra Club has since launched a lawsuit against the plant’s air emissions, making investors jittery about the additional $650 million that will be needed to complete the project. (h/t Environmental News Bits for pointing us to this story)
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