FutureGen Alliance May Pull Out Of Clean Coal Project

By Bill McMorris. Illinois Statehouse News
A multi-billion dollar effort to develop clean coal technology in Illinois may be in jeopardy now that federal officials have changed the nature of the program.

Illinois Statehouse News has learned that board members from the FutureGen Alliance, a multi-national coalition of energy companies, will meet today in Washington, D.C., to decide if it will remain partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a clean coal plant in Illinois.

Conflict arose earlier this month when Department of Energy officials decided to turn what was supposed to be a new clean coal facility in Mattoon into a CO2 waste repository. Mattoon officials balked at the deal.  Mattoon Mayor Tim Gover said he was not contacted once by federal authorities to discuss the plans. “I could have told them that this was unacceptable,” he said.

Mattoon’s rejection of the department’s policy shift led to the relocation of the project to Meredosia, a town of 1,000 in central Illinois. The department will spend billions retrofitting an oil fire unit at the Meredosia Power Plant to produce clean coal. “They didn’t fill us in on a lot of the details,” said Kenneth Scott, mayor of Meredosia.

Scott said he received a call from U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin’s office letting him know of the department’s decision on Aug. 5--the same day officials in Mattoon discovered the change of plans. “It was the first I heard of (FutureGen),” he said.

The FutureGen project has been plagued by delays and plan changes. Two companies and the Australian government have abandoned the Alliance since President Barack Obama reversed a Bush administration decision to halt the project altogether.


You can read Bill's full report at:  http://illinois.statehousenewsonline.com/4056/futuregen-alliance-may-pull-out-of-clean-coal-project/