Local News
FutureGen project may still get off the ground this spring
EFFINGHAM — After a false start several years ago, a leading economic development professional in Coles County told a group of Effingham-area business leaders the long-awaited FutureGen project may get off the ground this spring.
“We’re expecting to know by the end of April whether the project will go forward,” said Angela Griffin, president and chief executive officer of Coles Together, the organization charged with developing economic opportunity in the Mattoon and Charleston areas.
Griffin is cautiously optimistic the U.S. Department of Energy will give FutureGen its blessing.
“We hate to say for sure, but we’re hopeful to move forward with FutureGen in Illinois.”
Griffin was the featured speaker at the monthly First Friday luncheon sponsored by the Greater Effingham Chamber of Commerce & Industry at Effingham Thelma Keller Convention Center. She has plenty of reasons to temper her optimism.
The FutureGen Alliance, a public/private partnership, selected Mattoon as the plant site. But the U.S. Department of Energy decided in early 2008 to cut off support for the project in favor of smaller plants scattered about the nation.
Griffin said the DOE’s decision was based on faulty numbers. But when Sen. Barack Obama — an early backer of the project — was elected president in late 2008, he gave hope to FutureGen proponents that the Mattoon site would be revisited.
Griffin said Energy Secretary Steven Chu reviewed the project for nearly a year before asking FutureGen Alliance to recruit new private sector partners in an effort to share the $2 billion project cost.
“They are looking for the alliance to bring in new members,” she said.
The FutureGen project centers around a proposed coal-fired power plant with almost no greenhouse gas emissions. The carbon dioxide would instead be trapped in a permanent storage area 7,500 feet underground, using the naturally porous sandstone so common in this area. Three layers of shale come between the earth’s atmosphere and the sandstone.
Griffin said the 275 megawatt plant would create 150 to 200 permanent jobs, plus 360 “spinoff” jobs, jobs in other fields that would not be created without FutureGen. Moreover, she said, the project would create 2,000 construction jobs in four years.
Griffin said the economic impact of FutureGen has been estimated at $85 million spent locally, $20 million in wages and $8 million in tax receipts for Coles County. But she said much of those dollars will be spread throughout the region, including Effingham County. She encouraged Effingham County business leaders to show vocal support.
“What can Effingham do?” she asked. “They can show that Illinois wants to support this. That message needs to be reinforced with the DOE.”
The project is also expected to rejuvenate the southern Illinois coal industry.
Griffin said site preparation would begin on the 440-acre site west of Mattoon almost immediately after the DOE gives its blessing.
Bill Grimes can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 132 or bill.grimes@effinghamdailynews.com.
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