Capitalist Pig Bob thinks Cap and Trade Bill will Hammer the Already Spent Consumer and Bloody the Energy Sector and S&P

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The capture and storage of carbon dioxide is a top priority for the Obama administration, a senior White House official said Wednesday. While the mining sector and coal-powered utilities have been lobbying the administration for funding to help develop technology that hasn't yet been proven feasible at a large scale, many environmental groups with close ties to the White House have been urging the government to shy away from the technology, saying it holds false promise. "This is a priority for the administration," Joseph Aldy, special assistant to the president for energy and the environment, said at an energy conference here. "We know that it's going to be important to try and help push on this technology...and it's going to be really a key part of the energy portfolio as we move ahead," Aldy said. As groups such as the Sierra Club and Greenpeace fight new coal-fired power plants designed to integrate capture-and-storage technology at a later date, some coal proponents have questioned the administration's commitment to coal as a future source of energy. In addition to concerns about greenhouse gas emissions, environmental advocates also question long-term storage viability and many of the mining practices used to excavate the fossil fuel. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Tuesday that developing "clean coal" technology that removes a substantial portion of the greenhouse gas emissions from the generation process was necessary to encourage major emitters such as China and India to develop lower-carbon economies. The U.S. has one of the largest deposits of coal in the world and, even based on current energy consumption rates, the U.S. could conceivably meet its demand needs for hundreds of years on the domestic resources. The recovery bill signed into legislation earlier this year included almost $3.4 billion to develop capture-and-storage technology. Also, in diplomatic dialogues with Canada - a major oil supplier to the U.S. - and coal-mining Australia, the President Barack Obama has agreed to cooperate on carbon capture and storage. One of Obama's top environmental advisors said Tuesday the administration largely approved of a climate bill drafted in the House of Representatives that includes a major funding provision for the technology. The administration has also pledged to continue pursuing investment in several commercial-scale test plants across the country. By Ian Talley, Dow Jones Newswires; (202) 862 9285; ian.talley@dowjones.com; Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/access/al?rnd=nTu4LxwcXyZ5kQj31xplfg%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day. (END) Dow Jones Newswires April 08, 2009 14:15 ET (18:15 GMT) Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.- - 02 15 PM EDT 04-08-09