Thanks in no small part to Al Gore and his film producers, the

American public is waking up to the seriousness of global warming. That 【M1】________

is not so widely appreciated is that unless the US government

acted urgently and decisively, this problem could very quickly get very 【M2】________

much worse.

For reasons both economic or political coal is poised to be the fuel 【M3】________

of choice in the coming decades as the US weans itself off foreign oil.

Coal combustion generates half the US’s electricity and release about 【M4】________

1. 5 billion tons of carbon dioxide a year. If present trends continue,

this figure will be more than double by 2050, much on to the detriment 【M5】________

of the world’s climate. Without an alternative fuel, the only solution is

to capture and store carbon dioxide from burning coal.

Overcome the engineering obstacles in the way of large-scale 【M6】_________

sequestration of carbon dioxide will be hard enough, and the bigger 【M7】_________

challenge is one of political will. US companies as yet have no incentive

to capture carbon emissions. While movements at state and congressional 【M8】_________

levels are pushing in the right direction, the ambiguity in the

administration’s policy is counterproductive.

It is time for the US government to put price on carbon emissions so 【M9】_________

utilities that invest in technologies to reduce carbon emissions will see

their efforts rewarding. Such a move would not only reduce the risks 【M10】________

associated with global warming, but also go a long way towards restoring

America’s green credentials.

【M8】