FutureGen - Illinois Coal

Coal underlies 65 percent of the state’s surface, and the Illinois coal industry annually produces approximately 32 million tons of coal, generating nearly $1 billion for the state’s economy each year. Currently, recoverable coal reserves in the state of Illinois amount to roughly 38 billion tons, almost one-eighth of the total coal reserves in the United States, and contain more BTUs than the oil reserves of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.*

This abundance of coal makes Illinois an ideal location to begin demonstration projects to utilize clean coal technology. For this reason, I strongly support efforts to bring clean coal research, development and demonstration projects, such as FutureGen, to our region.

In February 2003, President Bush announced his plan for FutureGen, a public/private partnership to build a 275-megawatt prototype power plant with emissions equal to those of natural gas. A major part of the proposal was the research and development of carbon capture and sequestration technologies, a process where carbon dioxide is pumped and stored underground to keep emissions from going into the environment. Immediately after the President’s announcement, I worked to bring FutureGen to Illinois because the abundant supply of coal and the deep saline aquifers of the region make the state an ideal location. I held forums to raise awareness of the project and encourage local support, worked with the state of Illinois on developing a proposal to host the facility, hosted meetings with Department of Energy (DOE) officials and secured appropriations funds to begin the project.

After almost five years of my determined efforts, in conjunction with the Illinois congressional delegation and state and local officials, the FutureGen Alliance of Energy Companies (the Alliance) selected Mattoon, Illinois, as the site of the project from among four finalists, two of which were in Texas (a site in the 12th District of Illinois was considered, but Southern Illinois was not a viable option because of the nearby New Madrid Fault). This accomplishment promised great things for Illinois coal and our nation's energy future.

However, President Bush abruptly cancelled the original plans for FutureGen in January 2008, citing cost increases as the main reason. Instead, a restructured program was introduced that would take three additional years to get up and running and would cost the government more. The decision was widely denounced as politically motivated – we could not envision the program being cancelled if it had been slated for Texas – and a major setback to our efforts to develop advanced clean coal technologies.

Following President Bush’s decision, I continued to work to get FutureGen back on track. Upon President Obama’s inauguration, I convened a meeting with newly-appointed DOE Secretary Steven Chu to express the Illinois delegation’s ongoing support for the project and our hope that President Obama would continue with the plans for the Mattoon site. Following these discussions, the President requested and Congress included $1 billion for FutureGen in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) when it passed Congress and was signed into law in February 2009. With this federal funding in place, the Alliance worked closely with the administration and Congress throughout 2009 and 2010 to finalize plans for the project and address ongoing concerns about FutureGen’s cost and viability.

In August 2010, DOE announced new plans to obligate the ARRA funds and proceed with a significantly revised plan for the project, which it called FutureGen 2.0. Under this new design, a shuttered Ameren coal plant in Meredosia would be retrofitted with oxycombustion technology to cleanly generate power from coal, and a pipeline would be constructed to pump the carbon 600 miles from the Meredosia plant to the original project site in Mattoon. This pipeline could be expanded to include many other coal plants across the region. On September 28, 2010, DOE officially obligated the $1 billion to move forward with this plan.

Following the announcement of FutureGen 2.0, the City of Mattoon officially pulled out of the project, and the Alliance began its search for a new host storage site, which will include a geologic sequestration research complex, craft labor training center and a visitor center.

While I was disappointed with President Obama and DOE’s abrupt decision, it was made in part because carbon capture and sequestration technology has advanced since the project was originally proposed in 2003. The new FutureGen plan is designed to develop oxycombustion, a cutting-edge technology DOE has never funded before that may allow carbon capture and sequestration to be used by more coal plants around the world. Furthermore, it will bring an estimated 900 jobs to downstate Illinois and another 1,000 jobs for suppliers across the state.

As plans for FutureGen 2.0 move forward, I will continue to work closely with my colleagues to ensure that we make progress in demonstrating that carbon capture and storage can be deployed on a commercial scale, providing efficient, affordable energy for Illinois and the world.

* All statistics taken from “Illinois Coal Facts,” Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, July 2008.

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