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Sometimes they are out to get you

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* This Dallas Morning News story is fanning the flames of paranoia here…

Texas lost out last month when a government-sponsored zero-emissions coal plant went to Illinois, but its bid could be revived because the project has stalled over questions about its rising cost and technological scope, officials said.

The U.S. Department of Energy told members of Congress from Illinois on Tuesday that it would pull its support for building the $1.8 billion FutureGen plant in Mattoon, Ill.

The department could scale back the project, and Texas might compete again to host a facility that’s smaller or includes slightly different technology.

“I fully expect Texas will have an opportunity to get involved,” said Texas Railroad Commission Chairman Michael Williams, who led Texas’ bid to host FutureGen. “There were indications even before the announcement that the Department of Energy was looking to perhaps go in a different direction.”

A whole lot of people believe that the Bush administration killed off FutureGen because Texas was left out of the equation.

* The FutureGen Alliance checks the Department of Energy’s facts and finds a whole lot of holes…

DOE: Project costs have nearly doubled.

FACT: Project costs have increased, but DOE’s share has not doubled—not even close. When President Bush first announced FutureGen, the DOE share was $800M. DOE’s current estimated share is $1.1B with the increase due to inflation. A White House Official agreed and was quoted in The New York Times on December 17, 2007, “…the market for steel, concrete and power plant components has ‘just gone through the roof globally’.” DOE’s contribution will be reduced by contributions from foreign countries. Additionally, the Alliance has offered to provide DOE with partial-to-full repayment to ease the final cost to the taxpayer. The costs are manageable. […]

DOE: DOE’s alternative plan will sequester twice as much CO2 as the current project’s one million ton goal.

FACT: The Mattoon site and FutureGen, as currently configured, can sequester approximately two million tons per year. The environmental impact statement considered as much as 2.5 million tons.

* And Congressman Shimkus is being called a Bush toady for allegedly giving up so easily on the project…

But two Mattoon city officials who met with Shimkus earlier this month say the Republican congressman from Collinsville was “carrying water” for President Bush when he traveled to the Coles County town, which is outside his district, and told city leaders that the FutureGen project was dead. On Wednesday, three weeks after the meeting in Mattoon, Department of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said that the energy department would not proceed with FutureGen.

If Shimkus ran for dogcatcher in Mattoon against Bodman, a write-in candidate would win, said Mattoon city attorney Preston Owen, who attended the meeting earlier this month.

Dave Wortman, Mattoon public works director, said he and other city officials were confused and disappointed after the meeting with Shimkus.

“The meeting that he had with us, that I sat in on, he was already telling us the project was dead and that we might as well get used to it,” Wortman said. “It undermines what we were trying to do. He came into another district to help the administration kill the project. That’s the way we felt.”

* More FutureGen stories, compiled by Kevin…

* Energy Dept. drops Future Gen support

* Wyo. Governor Blasts Gov’t on FutureGen

* Statement of John Thompson, Clean Air Task Force Director of Coal Transition Project, on DOE Secretary Bodman’s Decision Not To Fund FutureGen

* Illinois governor urges coal states to back FutureGen

* FutureGen uncertainty causes anger

* FutureGen Setback Marks a Win for Carbon Capture

* No future for FutureGen?

* FutureGen developers propose cost change

* FutureGen’s Plan to Bring CCS to Illinois in Trouble?

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Feb 1, 08 @ 10:11 am

Comments

Illinois should not be surprised that political influence might play a part in this project. The President, a former Texas governor, would like to steer (excuse the metaphor) FutureGen to his home state. It’s a move that should make any Illinoisan, and any Illinois politician especially, sigh in recognition. My amazement is that Texas was left off the short list to begin with.

Comment by anon Friday, Feb 1, 08 @ 10:54 am
I can hardly wait until Janyaru, 2009 when this fool in the WH will be gone. Just hope he’s not replaced w/another fool!

You make a promise you keep it - og I gotgot hr5 sprnt the money in Iraq and had to reduce taxes - oh wait let’s havre thr highrdt spending since LBJ!

Good riddance!!!!!!

Doug Dobmeyer

Comment by Doug Dobmeyer Friday, Feb 1, 08 @ 11:00 am
Texas was on the short list.

the final four were 2 from Texas, 2 from Illinois.

Comment by GoBearsss Friday, Feb 1, 08 @ 11:08 am
FutureGen is the latest beating that the Illinois coal industry has taken, since mines recently disappeared from Monterrey and Freeman, too. We could bounce back, though, if we went forward with the clean coal plant proposed for Taylorville. Our state actually has control over that, and virtually everyone wants it.

Comment by anon Friday, Feb 1, 08 @ 11:19 am
It was never realistic to expect the Federal government to bail us out. The 20th Century days of dams, TVA, NASA and Cadillac deserts has been replaced by the SSC, the Big Dig, and New Orleans levees.

We live in an age where economic stimulus will depend on local and state governments, not federal pork barrel projects like FutureGen. Lets wake up and start making things happen for us, by us and stop dreaming of US government hand-outs.

Comment by VanillaMan Friday, Feb 1, 08 @ 11:24 am
You can register your dissatisfaction with Secretary Bodman: The.Secretary@hq.doe.gov

Comment by Niles Township Friday, Feb 1, 08 @ 11:36 am
VM,

You left out “Public-Private Parnerships” and good ol’ private sector development, which will be just as important.

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Friday, Feb 1, 08 @ 11:39 am
The Gov. is getting some of his own treatment. You can’t keep poking the Feds in the eye and expect to get favorable responses from them. FutureGen would be great for Illinois and it is an important project for the future of coal. Let’s face it, the Feds and other states know what is going on in Illinois and Blago and the dems have made us the joke of the party. You can’t continue to snub your nose at the Feds (e.g.,flu vaccine)and expect them to run to your aid when you want something. Way to go Blago - your style of polltics has turned full circle on you - enjoy….

Comment by Holdingontomywallet Friday, Feb 1, 08 @ 11:58 am
DOE gave us some warning that this might be coming by stating before the announcement of the Mattoon site that the decision might be premature. Plus, the day after the announcement, the Alliance rushed to begin seismic testing…??? In making an informed decision about choosing the final site, wouldn’t that have been done beforehand. We are just picking up the crumbs here on what happened behind the scenes. My guess it was ugly. And I am left to question now whether the project at Mattoon was the best place or only site to test CCS. Why not just put the effort now into the Taylorville plant and leave Washington out of it?

Comment by Vole Friday, Feb 1, 08 @ 12:06 pm
There seem to be a number of private sector proposals for coal gasifications plants already. Perhaps the state should be looking at supporting small scale energy technologies(biomass???)that can be more widely distributed. We also need to demonstrate that carbon can be buried effectively in the ground. Maybe the Taylorville coal gas project would be a good place to experiment with carbon sequestration.

Comment by let's move on Friday, Feb 1, 08 @ 12:22 pm
While it’s easy to blame Prez Bush for this, it falls a lot closer to out Governor, our 2 US Senators, any and all US Reps with interests in impacted areas. Leaders lead and get things done, managers follow and blame others when it doesn’t fall into place the way we want. Durbin and Obama should be in those DOE offices until it gets done.

Comment by North of I-80 Friday, Feb 1, 08 @ 12:25 pm
Federal Energy policy has an abyssmal record of developing new energy technologies, and this is just one more boondoggle.

What is really needed is nuclear fuel recycli9ng and fast breeder technology which was abandoned to the Europeans in the late 1970s.

Now France is far much closer to energy independence than US.

While the US wastes billions on technologies that will never be economically viable without subsidy such ethanol, real solutions like creating the next generation of nukes is virtually ignored.

I guess propping up those grain prices to buy the Ag vote is more important than real energy solutions.

Perhaps another problem si the fact that the Illinois dems are so incompetent that they can’t figure out how to get the Illinois share for capital projects to get the more than matching funds from the Feds.

This is perhaps the biggest failure of the Blago/Jones/Madigan troika.

Comment by PalosParkBob Saturday, Feb 2, 08 @ 1:38 pm
Coal fired power plants are dead - or are becoming so. Those funds need to be spent on solar or wind power projects instead. We could take a look at Sweden’s power plant fuel - pellets compressed from biodegradeables from the land fills - taking care of two problems at once, diminishing land fill space and a cleaner fuel to burn to produce energy.

There’s more lobbying funds for coal than there are for the others, plus we have coal miners here in the state that would need jobs if the coal industry pulled out.

Comment by Sahims2 Monday, Feb 4, 08 @ 7:57 am