Mattoon lands FutureGen power plant
MATTOON – Christmas came early for Coles County with the naming of Mattoon as the future home of FutureGen, a $1.5 billion, first of its kind coal-fueled power plant.
The announcement brought Gov. Rod Blagojevich to the city about an hour later to celebrate.
"I know this is the biggest economic development opportunity for East Central Illinois in decades, so merry Christmas, Mattoon, and merry Christmas to the people of East Central Illinois," Blagojevich said to citizens and county officials at the former Time theater.
"This is the beginning of a promising future, and what's exciting about it is it's happening right here in the heartland of America, right here in central Illinois."
Citizens and county officials gathered at the old theater to watch the site announcement via Webcast from the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
The good news came from Michael Mudd, the chief executive officer of the FutureGen Alliance.
"The alliance intends to select Mattoon," Mudd said.
A roar of cheers drowned the rest of Mudd's statement as residents and supporters raised their hands over heads and gave each other high-fives.
"We dreamed the dream and now our dream for Coles County means a better world for everyone," said Angela Griffin, president and CEO of Coles Together, which put together the site offer.
"I brought two speeches today with two possible outcomes, and this is what I'm going to do with one of them," Griffin said to the crowd, ripping a piece of paper in two. "Game over."
Mattoon Mayor David Cline, in a theater full of elated residents and supporters, called the announcement an honor.
"It's one of those moments of a lifetime," Cline said.
State Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, was all smiles as he shook the hands of crowd members around him after the announcement.
"There was confidence all along that as long as the decision was based on the merits alone, Illinois would win," Righter said.
The joint work of Mattoon and Tuscola helped bring the project to Illinois, Righter said, adding that the entire region can prepare for a change. Tuscola was also a finalist for the FutureGen site.
"In ways that we've yet to really realize, Eastern Illinois will be more on the map," Righter said. "You're going to see an economic lift here, certainly."
Charleston Mayor John Inyart expects FutureGen's effects to stretch into Charleston and across the region as well.
Charleston worked with Mattoon to provide a water supply for the FutureGen project, which Inyart said was a critical part of the project.
The alliance is expected to be in the area and on the site Wednesday, Griffin said.
The alliance is a nonprofit group of 13 of the world's largest coal producers and users. The private organization is partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy to create what they hope to be the world's cleanest coal-fueled power plant.
Mattoon was one of four finalists to be home to the coal-gasification, near-zero emissions facility. The winning site is about 1 mile northwest of the city on Illinois 121. The other finalists included Tuscola and the Texas cities of Odessa and Jewett.
FutureGen is a prototype plant meant to use and develop a mixture of new technologies to create efficient and clean energy. The alliance and the DOE hope FutureGen will spur the construction of other similar, low-emission plants to help the U.S. use it's coal supply without worsening environmental concerns of greenhouse gases.
The plant will create near-zero emissions because carbon dioxide resulting from the coal gasification process will be stored, or "sequestered," in geologic formations at least 3,000 feet below the surface, rather than released into the atmosphere.
Hydrogen, sulfur and ash byproducts from the plant will be marketed for other uses, increasing the plant's efficiency.
The plant is expected to generate hundreds of construction jobs and hundreds after it is completed, both directly and indirectly.
A study done at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in June estimated a possible $85 million annual increase in economic output with FutureGen operating in Coles or Douglas counties, with a total statewide output increase of $135 million. The study also estimated a creation of 360 local spinoff jobs and a total of 510 jobs statewide. Construction of the plant was also estimated to produce $1 billion in statewide impact and create 1,300 direct jobs and 3,250 indirect jobs in the state.
Construction is expected to begin in 2009, with full-scale operations in 2012.
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