Published: November 21, 2008 09:07 pm      

Governor comments on FutureGen

By TESA CULLI

tesa.culli@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich expressed hope that FutureGen will be coming back to the state during an appearance in the city on Thursday.

“If President Obama is anything like President Bush, we have a good chance of getting it back,” Blagojevich said. “We already won it, fair and square. The only reason it was in question is because of Texas.”

FutureGen was first announced by President George W. Bush in 2003, and is a public-private partnership to design, build and operate the world’s first coal-fueled, near-zero emissions power plant at an estimated cost of $1.5 billion. The commercial-scale plant is to be designed to prove the technical and economic feasibility of producing low-cost electricity and hydrogen from coal while nearly eliminating emissions. As proposed, the plant will also support testing and commercialization of technologies focused on generating clean power, storing carbon dioxide and hydrogen production.

In December 2007, Mattoon was chosen as the site for the plant from among four finalists in Illinois and Texas. Finalists were Mattoon, Tuscola, Odessa, Texas, and Jewett, Texas. In January, the Department of Energy decided to restructure the project, and in June, an announcement was made asking for commercial business to help with the restructuring.

Despite the announcement from the Department of Energy, the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee passed legislation that would protect $134 million in federal funding for FutureGen at Mattoon, which was included in the energy and water appropriations bill for fiscal year 2009.

“We can’t rely on President Obama and the federal government to do it for us,” Blagojevich said. “We still have to do our part, just like we have for years. But FutureGen is something we have worked for and won.”

While Blagojevich was speaking out about the energy project on Thursday, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, U.S. Representative John Shimkus and representatives from the offices of Representative Tim Johnson and Jerry Costello were meeting with FutureGen Alliance Chairman Paul Thompson, Alliance CEO and president Mike Mudd and various members of the Alliance board of directors. Durbin was receiving a briefing on the project status.

“We have been able to keep the concept of FutureGen alive for almost a year,” Durbin said. “[Thursday] morning I met with the FutureGen Alliance. They are still committed to this project and I am as well. We are going to work hard to make sure that the new Secretary of Energy and the new Administration make an early commitment to FutureGen so we can move forward. This is not only critically important for Illinois coal, this is important for the nation’s energy future and the environment.”