'Mad Money' Spotlight: Cramer's Coal Picks

Peabody Energy's recent luck was a little better by comparison. On Friday, Peabody Energy received a boost from the U.S. Energy Department. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced a first-step agreement with the FutureGen Alliance on its long-running FutureGen project, representing a new life after the project was dropped by the former Bush Administration.

As conceived, when completed the project will create a coal power plant in Illinois that produces near-zero emissions. Peabody Energy is one of 11 companies in the FutureGen Alliance.

"The FutureGen project holds great promise as a flagship facility to demonstrate carbon capture-and-storage at commercial scale," Chu said. "Developing this technology is critically important for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the US, and around the world."

Friday's announcement jump-starts plans for preliminary designs and cost analyses. The total price tag for the public-private project will likely come to more than $2 billion, with the Energy Department agreeing to put down more than $1 billion.