I was interested to note that the British government is planning to fund
a study of carbon sequestration as a means of combating climate change
due to accumulation of carbon dioxide. According to the report (see
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050614/sc_afp/britaing8climateenergy_05061
4163231;_ylt=Ahui24gd7lMnIhXRTwYhYuWs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2aWxpajE2BHNlYwNzY
w-- for the full text),

        Britain is to study whether global warming can be curbed by
"capturing" carbon dioxide from power stations and storing it
underground in old oil and gas fields. The government has committed 40
million pounds (60 million euros, 72 million dollars) for research on
the technology, known as carbon sequestration, or carbon capture.

The environmental activists must be struggling with a dilemma here:
whether to apply the Precautionary Principle to this unprecedented
activity (which, given all the uncertainties associated with it, would
surely be sufficient to stop it), or whether to pretend that the
Precautionary Principle is somehow not applicable to carbon dioxide
unmining.
 
Gordon Davy 
Baltimore, MD 
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410-993-7399