Issue date: 2/11/09 Section: News

The Senate passed an economic stimulus bill, but FutureGen was not specifically mentioned in the plan. The bill will be voted on again after a conference with the House. (File photo/The Daily Eastern News)

The Senate passed their $838 billion version of President Barack Obama's economic stimulus bill Tuesday.

Included in the bill is an earmark for $2 billion for clean coal research.

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the $2 billion in the Senate compromise was for the FutureGen project in Mattoon.

CNN also reported on Feb. 4 a list of provisions to the Senate stimulus bill that Congressional Republican leaders were opposed to, which included on that list was a $2 billion earmark to re-start FutureGen.

Coles Together President Angela Griffin said no specific mention is given to FutureGen in the stimulus plan.

"There is no guarantee that (the stimulus) funds the project in Mattoon," Griffin said. She said no earmark for FutureGen is included in the plan.

"There is nothing in that stimulus plan for FutureGen in Mattoon," she said.

Griffin said reports like the one from The Wall Street Journal and others are drawing conclusions that the earmark for clean coal is an earmark for FutureGen.

"I would guess that these stories are critics of the plan," she said.

The Senate's bill, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, states "that $2 billion is available for one or more near-zero emissions powerplant(s): Provided further, $1,000,000,000 is available for selections under the Department's Clean Coal Power Initiative Round III Funding Opportunity Announcement; notwithstanding the mandatory eligibility requirements of the Funding Opportunity Announcement, … the Department shall consider applications that utilize petroleum coke for some or all of the project's fuel input: Provided further, $1.52 billion is available for a competitive solicitation pursuant to … projects that demonstrate carbon capture from industrial sources."

Tim Bloomer, spokesman for U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson, R-Urbana, said FutureGen should not have been a part of the stimulus package, since the project was scientifically evaluated and has held its own for six years.

"Congressman Johnson has been supportive of FutureGen since 2003," Bloomer said.

Bloomer said Johnson will wait and see what all is to be included in the stimulus plan after the bill returns to the House. "Hopefully by the end of the week, we will have a decision," Bloomer said.

Griffin said the FutureGen project would meet the guidelines for the U.S. Department of Energy's clean coal program, but it is up to the department to decide who receives funding from the stimulus.

So, if passed, the department would decide where the $2 billion in the stimulus bill for clean coal research would go.

The earmark for clean-coal technology could fund a variety of activities under the Department of Energy.

"It is our hope that we would be eligible for that funding," Griffin said.

The $1.8 billion near-zero emissions power plant in Mattoon would use a coal-gasification process to convert coal into hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The hydrogen created would power a turbine that would create electricity. A second turbine would create electricity from the steam from the first turbine.

Private industry will front a portion of the $1.8 billion. The federal government will fund 76 percent of the project.

Griffin said they have been slowly moving forward as much as possible in the project with the private investing.

"We are waiting for a signal from the Department of Energy that they are willing to be partners in it again," she said.

The Department of Energy defunded the project last year.

The final terms of the stimulus plan will be discussed in a conference between House and Senate leaders before being sent to both chambers for another vote. Then the bill will be sent to Obama for his signature or veto.

"(Federal funding) would mean that Congress sees the FutureGen program as one that can help stimulate the economy, that can lead to energy independence, and that can be part of the solution of climate change," Griffin said.


News Editor Matt Hopf contributed to this report.

Emily Zulz can be reached at 581-7942 or at eazulz@eiu.edu.

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