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With the cancellation of US Department of Energy Funding for FutureGen -- the "demonstration" zero-emissions coal plant plagued by cost overruns -- it looks like the promise of clean coal has suffered a major setback.

But a look at the DOE's Carbon Sequestration Technology Roadmap and Program Plan (2007) reveals that the technology -- even with FutureGen -- was not going to be ready any time soon anyway. Certainly not before today's first graders finish high school, probably college, and quite possibly graduate school.

Here's what the DOE has to say quite explicitly on page 9:

As a technology and a research discipline, carbon sequestration is in its infancy.

Would you trust the future of the planet to an infant? How certain can we be that this child will grow up to be a sustainable citizen, given its parentage? When will we have an idea? Here's the timeline DOE has provided that tracks when it expects carbon sequestration to grow up.