Barack Obama

Bill could benefit SIUC

Friday, July 29, 2005

SOUTHERN ILLINOISAN
BY NICOLE SACK

SOUTHERN ILLINOIS - Packaged inside the long-awaited national energy bill passed by the House on Thursday are a handful of clean coal provisions authored by U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Belleville.

The energy bill provides tax incentives for the commercialization of clean coal technologies and will double ethanol production.

"It has been a long journey to this point, but the end result is very good for Illinois and for the future of coal use in this country," Costello said.

The energy bill will create national centers for coal research, one of which Costello wants to locate at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Other Costello clean coal provisions include the authorization of $1.8 billion for nine years of research and demonstration projects with the goal of reaching emission levels comparable to natural gas. A mandate has been established calling for at least 60 percent of funding for fossil energy research to go toward coal research.

In addition, $75 million will be used to create a program to develop advanced technologies to remove carbon dioxide from coal emissions and permanently sequester it below ground - a technology the FutureGen project will use.

"We have put in place a very strong research program to develop the most advanced clean coal technologies and have committed the federal government to help get them out of the lab and into production," Costello said. "This is a long-term process, but this bill puts us on a path to meet our future energy needs."

Also in the energy bill is an amendment that would provide $85 million to three universities in the Illinois Coal Basin.

Southern Illinois University, Purdue University and the University of Kentucky are slated to divvy up the funds to upgrade existing facilities, construct new facilities and conduct research and testing on Illinois Basin Coal.

The amendment was co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, and U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Indiana.

"This is a common-sense investment in our energy future. If we create fuel from Illinois coal, just like ethanol from Illinois corn, we create Downstate jobs, clean the environment, and make our country less dependent on foreign oil," Obama said. "I think most Illinoisans would rather America use fuel made from Illinois coal than fuel made from Middle Eastern oil, and this funding will help build on the cutting-edge research already under way at SIU-Carbondale."

There is also good news for Illinois corn farmers. The national Renewable Fuel Standard for ethanol will reach 7.5 billion gallons annually by 2012, up 3.7 billion gallons this year. Illinois ranks second in corn production and produces more than 800 million gallons of ethanol each year.