Date: January 29, 2008

Author: Keith Johnson

Source: Wall Street Journal

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman raised eyebrows with tantalizing comments about U.S. ethanol policy and a troubled carbon-capture project.

At a luncheon with biofuel industry executives hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Bodman was asked about the prospects for extending tariffs on imported ethanol.

“I think this industry is pretty close to being able to stand on its own,” he said. President Bush’s budget proposal,  due next week, “will start to deal with that question,” Mr. Bodman said, without further elaboration.

Mr. Bodman also offered less-than-reassuring words about FutureGen, the $1.5 billion clean-coal project partly funded by his agency. After running behind schedule and well over-budget, is the DOE going to pull the plug on a project critics are calling NeverGen?

“I can’t deny it…or confirm it.” Mr. Bodman answered. He said the agency will have more to say in the next “two to three weeks.”

(UPDATE: Asked to elaborate on Mr. Bodman’s remarks, a spokeswoman for the Energy Department, Julie Ruggiero, said “Secretary Bodman has maintained a strong commitment to the FutureGen project since we announced its public-private agreement in 2005. But the cost of the plant has almost doubled and we’ve seen technological advances over the past five years, that require a thorough reassessment to ensure that the FutureGen project delivers the greatest possible technological benefits in the most cost-efficient manner.”)

On the oil patch, Mr. Bodman says he didn’t bristle at Senator Hillary Clinton’s remark that President Bush’s lobbying trip to Saudi Arabia was “pathetic.”

“Sen. Clinton is running for president,” he said, “so I excuse whatever statements she made and attribute them to that.” He also says he has “no idea” what OPEC members will decide to at their meeting next month in Vienna.