For Release: Thursday, January 27, 2005
David Gillies: 202-225-5661

COSTELLO, SHIMKUS, ILLINOIS DELEGATION SEND LETTER TO ENERGY SECRETARY DESIGNEE BODMAN REGARDING FUTUREGEN

Washington - Members of the Illinois congressional delegation at the urging of U.S. Congressmen Jerry Costello (D-IL) and John Shimkus (R-IL) today sent a letter to Energy Secretary designee Sam Bodman touting the benefits of locating the FutureGen clean coal power plant project in Illinois.  Signing the letter was one of the first actions taken by the Illinois delegation during the 109th Congress.

"We feel this is an important message to send to the next Energy Secretary, that FutureGen is a high priority and that Illinois is the ideal location for the facility," said Costello.  "The strong show of support from the delegation underscores the importance of this project for our state."

"FutureGen is a vital piece of the efforts to start producing more of our energy needs here at home.  I firmly support efforts to develop clean coal technology and know that Illinois is the perfect place for locating this federal project," stated Shimkus. 

President Bush proposed building a 275-megawatt prototype power plant with emissions equal to those of natural gas in 2003.  Costello and Shimkus have pressed the case that FutureGen should be located in Illinois.  They have led the effort to educate state and local officials about the project, have held several meetings with federal officials and have helped secure funding. 

Costello and Shimkus believe 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.

Illinois delegation letter to Secretary designee Bodman

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