On this day 19 long long years ago George “Dubya” Bush announces “FutureGen”
Anon. 2003. Bush announces billion-dollar energy project. Agence France-Presse, 27 February.
WASHINGTON, Feb 27 (AFP) – President George W. Bush announced Thursday that the United States would lead a 10-year, one-billion- dollar effort to create the world’s coal-based, zero-emissions electricity and hydrogen power plant. [FutureGen]
The context is his resistance to anything that looks like regulation domestically, or international agreements. Still, in order to preserve electability, you have to mutter something about “technology-driven solutions and the like…” And that is pure catnip to people who don’t want to face facts (most folks, most of the time, some folks all of the time).
What happened next?
It failed, got rebranded (“FutureGen 2.0”) and failed again. Wikipedia has a decent article. fwiw.
See also
February 27, 2003: Abraham and Dobriansky announce “FutureGen” | Department of Energy