The News-Gazette.com: FutureGen decision 'a historic moment' -- Durbin

FutureGen decision 'a historic moment' -- Durbin

By The Associated Press

Friday, June 12, 2009 12:10 PM CDT

WASHINGTON (AP) The Department of Energy is moving forward on a futuristic coal-burning power plant in Illinois that the Bush administration had declared dead.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Friday that reviving the FutureGen plant is an important step that shows the administration's commitment to carbon-capture technology.

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

Negotiations for the FutureGen project have been going on since the Obama administration announced it would consider reviving the project. Under President George W. Bush, the project was canceled after cost overruns that a Congressional auditor later said were based on false projections.

U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., called the plant's revival a "historic moment."

"In my time in Congress, I can't recall a project that has greater scientific and practical significance than FutureGen," Durbin said.

And U.S. Rep Tim Johnson, R-Urbana, called the development "very positive and long overdue."

"The people of Coles County and Illinois have invested their time and
energy into this project over many years," Johnson said. "It's been a heartbreaking
process at times but they have kept the faith and their leaders have
maintained the momentum even when the process seemed to be moving
backward.

The project is slated to be built in Mattoon. It has been billed as a potential economic engine for a part of Illinois that has been hit hard by the economic slowdown.

The FutureGen plant is designed to burn coal while capturing and burying its carbon dioxide emissions.