Burning Coal UndergroundTouted as Cleaner Technology of Future

China, India, and other countries are moving ahead with dozens of projects that will burn coal underground to run power plants, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. The newspaper says the process will reduce air pollution and could make it easier to sequester carbon dioxide underground by eventually pumping it back into the spaces where the coal was burned. The technology, called underground coal gasification, involves drilling a borehole to the coal seams, igniting the coal, pumping oxygen down to feed combustion, then pumping combustion gases back to the surface to run power plants. The process can also be used to make products such as methanol, which can be converted into diesel fuel. This technology has been used at a power plant in Uzbekistan for 50 years, but had been largely abandoned elsewhere. Now, higher oil prices and new technology have persuaded officials in China and India to embrace underground coal gasification. China has about 30 projects in different stages of development. Critics warn, however, that the process could create water pollution and land subsidence and may not prove to be an effective way to sequester carbon.