Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, plan was the most ambitious of any state and involves constructing dozens of plants to make ethanol, electricity and natural gas -- and send the carbon dioxide the plants emit through a new pipeline to pump up the state's oil production and then sequester the greenhouse gas underground.
"No other state has the combination of natural resources that we have here in Illinois," Blagojevich said in a statement.
"We're the nation's leading producer of soybeans. We're the No. 2 producer of corn. And we have the nation's third-largest reserves of coal," he said.
Environmentalists agreed. "It looks like a very smart, political move by the governor and one that has real potential benefits in terms of both cleaner coal and reducing oil consumption," said Frank O'Donnell of the group Clean Air Watch.
"Obviously, the devil may be in the details. But it looks to be a good-faith effort to use local energy," O'Donnell said.
