30 May 2008 8:31 PM
Q: But what role should fossil fuels play, specifically in Montana, where we've got vast coal reserves? Do you think, in the short term or the long term, Montana should be moving more quickly to develop some of those coal reserves, to help us become a more energy-independent nation, or do we need to wait until better carbon-capture technology is developed?
Obama: I come from a coal state and so I am a big proponent of clean-coal technology and I want us to move rapidly in developing those sequestration technologies that's required. We're not going to immediately move off coal. A huge percentage of our electricity is generated by coal. What we need to do though is to put clean-coal technology on the fast track and that means money. It means investment in research. That's something that we should have already been doing. We had a project called FutureGen, a billion-dollar project that was slated to go up, and the Bush administration canceled it after the siting decision was made and it wasn't in Texas. I think that's a mistake. We're the Saudi Arabia of coal, and the sooner we can figure out how to burn it cleanly, not only are we going to benefit but we can license that technology to countries like China and India that are putting up new coal facilities every week.
http://www.grist.org/article/were-the-saudi-arabia-of-coal