The Department of Energy cancelled the building of a prototype clean coal power plant in Illinois that was supposed to set the standard in coal burning with limited environmental impact. The FutureGen power plant slated for Mattoon, Illinois won't happen at DOE expense.

Now it's up to Congress to decide if it wants to fund the international project that was one of the centerpieces of the Bush Administration's Advanced Energy Initiative.

FutureGen was supposed to be a crowning achievement for an "emissions free" domestic energy source that was launched in 2003 by President Bush. For example, in 2007, the DOE spent $54 million on FutureGen as part of a 10 year $1.5 billion project that now apparently will cost much more than expected, so DOE is cutting funding. Companies from South Korea, South Africa, China, Europe, and South America are all participating in the FutureGen Alliance, and the DOE's withdrawal is a major setback.

Private clean coal initiatives will nevertheless continue forward because the threat of carbon caps justifies the research investment from energy companies. So do we give Bush credit for tightening its belt and abandoning a project (like the Freedom Car) that is too technically challenging to ever be cost-effective?

But if the Bush Administration has lost its enthusiasm, the next DOE leadership may even back away further from the concept of clean coal.

Should taxpayer dollars be subsidizing research that subsidizes a fossil fuel industry? Many folks would say no, especially in a time of huge deficits. Coal as an energy source isn't going away anytime soon and the pressure to find a cleaner way of burning it will likely only intensify -- with or without DOE support.