This just in:

According to a new study released today, accelerated deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology would lead to 74,000 permanent jobs attributable to CCS in the U.S. by 2030.  CCS deployment will also result in the net creation of 371,000 construction “job years” (each “job year” being one construction job for a year). The construction jobs would be focused in states with plants incorporating CCS technology – with an estimated 42,616 job years in Pennsylvania, 28,654 in Ohio, and 26,293 in Indiana, and would involve the building of more than 100 new plants throughout the U.S.

The study, released by the Clean Air Task Force, is available online here.

Here’s some more from the group’s press release:

As unemployment hovers close to 10% in the United States, the study forecasts that CCS, which involves capturing, compressing, transporting, and permanently storing carbon dioxide (CO2) gas, will not only help protect the stability of the coal industry, but will also create new jobs.  Researchers found that CCS will help to save thousands of existing coal mining jobs, as well as railroad, and manufacturing jobs throughout the United States, especially in areas where coal is currently mined and combusted, including Appalachia, the Rust Belt, and the Mountain West.

The study further noted that CCS technology would allow the U.S. economy to reduce its carbon footprint by approximately 1 billion tons of cumulative CO2, as well as cause a cumulative increase in real private investment spending of $120 billion between 2012 and 2030. It would enhance the global community’s capacity to mitigate the environmental impacts associated with greenhouse gas emissions. CCS also has substantial potential for abatement of greenhouse gas emissions for other large industries, such as cement manufacturing.

“CCS technology, combined with America’s skilled workforce, can give birth to an entirely new large-scale industry at a time when jobs are needed most,” said John Thompson, Director, Coal Transition Project for the Clean Air Task Force. “The best news of all is that, in this case, economic development and environmental improvement go hand in hand.”  The report was created by developing two CCS deployment scenarios–based largely on the Energy Information Administration’s recent analysis of the Waxman-Markey bill—and simulating them using Inforum’s LIFT model of the U.S. economy.