Vandalia and Fayette County haven’t had the greatest year. First, the governor tried to kill off the local state prison, now the region appears to be losing out on a lucrative coal/power deal.

VANDALIA, Ill. (AP) Two years after a Kentucky-based company promised to build a huge coal mine and power generating plant in Fayette County, the company is $225,000 behind in its lease payments to the county and in danger of losing the project.

Clean Coal Power Resources Inc. failed to pay a six-month lease payment despite receiving a two-month extension in July. Another $225,000 is due Jan. 1.

County Board Chairman Dean Black said he was confident the board would vote Tuesday to send Clean Coal a letter declaring the company in default of its lease agreement. […]

In 2002, Clean Coal said that building the coal mine would mean 250 jobs and another 4,000 to build the gasification and power plants. Larry Emerick, the board chairman at the time, said the lease called for $17 million in yearly royalty payments once the plant was fully operational around 2012.

Have any of the dozens of ambitious plans to revitalize Illinois coal ever succeeded? I’m hard-pressed to think of any at the moment.