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Watch the FutureGen siting announcement at this link. The announcement speech is scheduled for 9 o’clock.
Background…
The FutureGen Industrial Alliance is scheduled to announce at 9 this morning whether a $1.75 billion experimental coal-fueled power plant will be built in Illinois or Texas.
Two cities in central Illinois, Tuscola and Mattoon, are competing with the Texas cities of Odessa and Jewett for the plant, called FutureGen, which will bring 150 permanent full-time jobs and 1,300 contruction jobs and the cachè of being the home of “the world’s cleanest coal-fueled power plant.”
The Energy Department conceived FutureGen in February 2003 as a way to advance so-called clean coal technology, and will contribute more than $1 billion for the project with remaining costs shared among members of the Future Gen Alliance, one of which is St. Louis-based Peabody Energy Corp.
States bidding for the project are pitching in, too. The Illinois General Assembly and Gov. Rod Blagojevich agreed to offer $80 million in tax breaks, grants and low-interest loans to win the project — a lot, but just a fraction of the $981 million being dangled by Texas.
*** UPDATE *** Mattoon, IL was selected as the site. That’s huge news for the state.
*** UPDATE 2 *** AP…
A government and industry research project to learn ways to burn coal without emitting global warming gases took a major step forward Tuesday as an industry group said it would build the facility at a site in Illinois, choosing the location over two potential sites in Texas.
The futuristic $1.8 billion power plant, known as FutureGen, will be built on several hundred acres near Mattoon, Ill., where construction is expected to bring hundreds of jobs and boost the local economy.
More background…
Officials in Texas and Illinois were willing to put up millions of dollars in incentives for the project, which will develop and test technology that will turn coal into a cleaner-burning gas and store carbon dioxide emissions deep underground.
Texas promised $260 million in cash and tax credits, while Illinois offered $80 million in grants, low-interest loans and tax breaks. Both states offered developers protection from liability in the event that carbon dioxide leaks from the ground.
*** UPDATE 3 *** But there’s also this ominous development…
Energy Department representatives did not take part in the announcement and last week told the industry group it was “inadvisable” to go ahead with a site selection at this time. The department said it was still examining some of the public comments received in response to environmental reviews of the four sites.
“We advised them not to move forward,” department spokeswoman Julie Ruggiero said Monday. She said the department had yet to issue a formal Record of Decision related to the environmental reviews that were formally issued Nov. 16, triggering a 30-day public comment period.
*** UPDATE 4 *** Sean Crawford at WUIS had a recent story about how FutureGen might never be built. The audio won’t work on my Mac (which annoys me to no end), but you can listen here.