In the Midst of Record Oil Boom, Obama Administration Seeks More Oil Production

Despite the oil boom already well underway, the Associated Press reported this week that the Obama administration was seeking to 'clean up' coal by capturing carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants and using it to force more oil out of the ground.

"Obama has spent more than $1 billion on carbon-capture projects tied to oil fields and has pledged billions more for clean coal," according to the AP report.  While the administration has touted the environmental benefits of carbon-capture, some are skeptical of a plan that seeks to reduce carbon emissions by increasing the production of another fossil fuel -- which will only emit more CO2 when burned.

Fueling the criticism, AP notes that "the administration also did not evaluate the global warming emissions associated with the oil production when it proposed requiring power plants to capture carbon."

And the report cites a 2009 peer-reviewed paper which "found that for every ton of carbon dioxide injected underground into an oil field, four times more carbon dioxide is released when the oil produced is burned."

In the Midst of Record Oil Boom, Obama Administration Seeks More Oil Production