Days After SOTU , Bush Bails Out on Energy Promises

President Bush got a lot of attention for pledging to end America's addiction to foreign oil in his State of the Union speech. Too bad that was just rhetoric - the Helena Independent Record reports that his budget released a few days later guts funding for various clean coal programs, including coal-to-gas technology.

Whether you believe in using coal for energy or not, few - other than the President, apparently - would argue about the value of making all coal technologies cleaner. Furthermore, these programs could have helped move forward coal-to-liquid-fuel projects like the one being pushed by Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D) - projects where we can make cleaner burning fuels out of the massive coal deposits we have right here in America. China is investing billions in these projects to get itself ahead of the energy crunch. Meanwhile, our president has decided to only pay lip service to America's serious energy crisis. Pathetic.

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