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Feds pledge $1.3 billion for new FutureGen concept

BY MIKE RIOPELL, The Southern Springfield Bureau

Wednesday, May 7, 2008 5:14 PM CDT

SPRINGFIELD -- The federal government Wednesday announced plans to offer companies $1.3 billion toward building FutureGen-style power plants across the country, taking another step away from building a single, massive project in Mattoon.

The Department of Energy plans to offer money for several plants that use coal to generate electricity and trap harmful pollutants underground.

Previously, the east-central Illinois town of Mattoon was slated to host a single plant of the kind. But the estimated cost nearly doubled over two years of planning FutureGen, and the government cited those costs in deciding to change course.

’’This is not about Mattoon at all,’’ Under Secretary of Energy Bud Albright told reporters Wednesday. He said the $1.3 billion could be split as many ways as possible, emphasizing there would be more than one project.

In the meantime, local officials and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin are pushing for Congress to push forward with the original planned $1.8 billion FutureGen project set for construction in Mattoon. Durbin recently threatened to block President Bush’s appointments to the Department of Energy over the issue.

"The DOE is wasting valuable time and taxpayer dollars in pursuing a multiple-site program when the original FutureGen project site in Mattoon is ready to go," said U.S. Rep. John Shimkus, R-Collinsville.

State Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, said that while Illinois officials should keep pushing for the old FutureGen plan, they shouldn’t turn a blind eye to the new proposal.

It’s been suggested that one of the new projects could end up in Mattoon after all, especially because the site already has survived the rigorous environmental approval process.

’’Local officials in Mattoon are looking, obviously, to accomplish something for that area of the state,’’ Righter said. ’’It’ll be up to federal officials, ultimately.’’

State Rep. Chapin Rose said, though, that focus should remain on getting Congress to approve the Mattoon plan.

’’I’m not giving up,’’ the Mahomet Republican said.

The Department of Energy is now seeking more input on its plan before officially looking for bids later this year. Albright said they’re looking for developers that have already planned to use some clean coal technology and could add the FutureGen concept of pumping carbon dioxide and other chemicals into the Earth.

Among the developers that might be interested is Tenaska, the Nebraska-based company trying to build a clean coal plant in the central Illinois town of Taylorville.

’’They were basically describing us, I think,’’ said Tenaska Vice President Bart Ford.

Ford said Wednesday the company could be interested in using federal FutureGen money to add to its proposed Taylorville Energy Center - meaning a FutureGen-type plant could open just west of Mattoon.

Still, the Taylorville plant has stalled for more than a year now and the federal government’s timeline might not line up with Tenaska’s, Ford said.

Tenaska has argued that lawmakers need to change law to help the project get financing. Ford said he’s not setting any hard deadlines, but if lawmakers don’t act in their session this year, the project could be moved to another state.

’’It just tells us that we probably won’t get it ever,’’ he said.