Federal Loans Fuel Push for Coal Plants: ; Environmentalists, Office of Management and Budget Line Up in Opposition to Program

Summary

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WASHINGTON - A Depression-era program to bring electricity to rural areas is using taxpayer money to provide billions of dollars in low-interest loans to build coal plants even as Congress seeks ways to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

That government support is a major force behind the rush to coal plants, which spew carbon dioxide that scientists blame for global warming.

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Extract

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Federal Loans Fuel Push for Coal Plants: ; Environmentalists, Office of Management and Budget Line Up in Opposition to Program

The beneficiaries of the government's largesse - the nation's rural electric cooperatives - plan to spend $35 billion to build conventional coal plants over the next 10 years, enough to offset all state and federal eff...

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