Utilities stuck in clean-air quandary

0 Comments | USA TODAY, December, 2006 | by Paul Davidson

Global warming? What global warming? The rising temperature of Earth's atmosphere may be breeding growing distress and sparking sales of hybrid cars, but most utility executives aren't exactly losing sleep over the problem. In fact, many electric companies are forging ahead with plans for traditional coal-fired power plants, the single biggest source of global warming, despite expectations that federal limits will eventually be placed on carbon dioxide emissions.

That prospect grows more likely with Congress' new Democratic majority. A much smaller group of utilities are building a new type of coal "gasification" plant that emits fewer pollutants and can be more easily retrofitted with equipment to trap carbon dioxide before it's released. Of roughly 150 coal-fired plants...