ROCKPORT, Ind. (AP) - A proposed coal gasification plant in southern Indiana would pump carbon dioxide to the Gulf of Mexico to help boost oil production there.

Indiana Gasification LLC hopes to sell its CO2 to a Plano, Texas, company that would build a $1 billion pipeline to the Gulf and use the gas to force oil out of Gulf wells.

Developer William Rosenberg of Indiana Gasification says finding a solution to the carbon dioxide emissions is crucial to the project because a proposed federal "cap and trade" system that would require power plants, factories and other emitters to pay for the right to release the gas.

The Department of Energy is still studying the potential pollution, noise and geological impact of the plant. The process could take up to two years.

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