Sen. Durbin pushes to revive FutureGen project
WASHINGTON, D.C. – It's a new year, and a new administration is heading to the White House.
And Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., is trying for a new decision to get FutureGen built in Mattoon.
He'll start working to make that happen next week with a meeting with the Energy Secretary nominee, Dr. Steven Chu. They'll get together Jan. 7 at the Capitol.
"Durbin has been talking for months about keeping this project alive until the next administration," said his spokeswoman, Christina Mulka. "Durbin and the (Illinois) delegation have been able to do exactly that."
And while Durbin will meet with more of President-Elect Barack Obama's nominees, this discussion with Chu was scheduled early because of the importance Durbin has placed on FutureGen, Mulka said.
The $1.8 billion clean-coal plant was originally a partnership between the Department of Energy and the FutureGen Alliance. The former was to pay for about three-quarters of the project. But after the Alliance – composed of 13 international power companies – announced in December 2007 that it would build in Mattoon, the Energy Department pulled out. Durbin vowed to keep the project alive until the next administration took office, claiming the decision was political. Of the other three finalist locations, one was in nearby Tuscola and two were in Texas.
Durbin and the rest of the Illinois delegation met with the alliance last November, which "ensured that both parties were in lock step and ready to hit the ground running on day one of the next administration," Mulka said.
Michael Mudd, the CEO of the FutureGen Alliance, said the meeting shows Durbin's commitment to building FutureGen in Mattoon and recognition of the national importance of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The plant would have captured and liquefied carbon dioxide and stored it deep underground.
Building the plant in Mattoon is a key element to learning how to curb those emissions, Mudd said, and he's confident the meeting will result in Chu's support.
"When the new administration comes in, when the new Secretary of Energy restores funding and ... releases the record of decision (to build the plant), we should be able to get FutureGen at Mattoon back on the fast track," Mudd said.
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