For Release: Wednesday, April 6, 2005
Contact: David Gillies: 202-225-5661

COSTELLO, ILLINOIS DELEGATION, MEET WITH ENERGY SECRETARY BODMAN REGARDING FUTUREGEN

Washington - Congressman Jerry Costello (D-IL) and other members of the Illinois Congressional delegation met with Energy Secretary Sam Bodman today to discuss the merits of locating the FutureGen clean coal power plant project in Illinois.  The delegation had sent a letter to Bodman on the subject earlier this year.

"This was another opportunity to show the Secretary how serious the delegation is about FutureGen," said Costello.  "We are unanimous in our support for this project and what it will mean to our state and the nation.  With gas prices at record highs, it is another reminder that we must lessen our reliance on foreign sources of oil.  Burning coal as cleanly as possible will help do that."

President Bush proposed building a 275-megawatt prototype power plant with emissions equal to those of natural gas in 2003.  Costello has led the effort to build support for the project in Congress and in Illinois . 

Costello believes that Southern Illinois is the perfect place to locate the new plant. The region is rich in high-sulfur coal reserves and the Coal Center at SIUC is located there.  In addition, the geology of the region is well suited to the carbon-trapping technology to be developed.  Illinois is home to oil and gas reserves and deep saline aquifers that can permanently sequester carbon dioxide.

Coal underlies 65 percent of the state's surface and the Illinois coal industry annually produces approximately 35 million tons of coal and generates more than $1 billion in gross revenues. Currently, recoverable coal reserves in the state of Illinois amount to more than 30 billion tons. Illinois has almost one-eighth of the coal reserves in the United States and one-quarter of the nation's bituminous coal reserves. Illinois' coal reserves contain more BTU's than the oil reserves of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

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