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Can 'Clean Coal' Be An Environmental Game Changer?

A coal-fired power plant in Kemper County, Mississippi, is pictured under construction in September 2013. (XTUV0010/Wikimedia Commons)
A coal-fired power plant in Kemper County, Mississippi, is pictured under construction in September 2013. (XTUV0010/Wikimedia Commons)

On Monday, President Obama is expected to unveil new rules aimed at cutting carbon emissions from power plants, including ones that use coal.

Coal generates nearly half of the country’s electricity and is the largest source of air pollution.

The new rules are expected to spur advances in technology to burn less polluting coal. At least, that’s the hope of proponents of one such “clean coal” project planned for West Texas.

Marfa Public Radio’s Lorne Matalon reports on that proposed effort. (Read more on his story via Fronteras Desk.)

Meanwhile, all eyes are on Kemper County, Mississippi, where the power company Southern has built a new coal-fired power plant designed to capture and reuse 65 percent of the plant’s carbon dioxide.

But as Steve Mufson, energy finance reporter for The Washington Post, tells Here & Now’s Robin Young, the facility’s opening has been delayed.

Reporter

  • Lorne Matalon, reporter for Fronteras Desk, West Texas Public Radio and Marfa Public Radio. He tweets @matalon.

Guest

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