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Trouble for America's leading clean-coal project
IN THE middle of Illinois's cornfields sits Mattoon, population 17,340. Like many towns in the Midwest, it rose on the railroad. Its most distinctive trait may be that it is home to a Burger King that preceded the fast-food chain--order a Whopper, and you will meet glares colder than an Icee. But in December this small city learned that it would become an international leader. An alliance of energy companies had chosen Mattoon as the site of FutureGen, America's first coal-based power plant to capture carbon dioxide and store it underground, demonstrating a technology known as CCS. It would be the start of a new era for Mattoon and the world.
Now these plans are cinders. On January 30th Samuel...