Durbin gathering FutureGen supporters for renewed effort
MATTOON – Sen. Dick Durbin is gathering members of the Illinois congressional delegation and officials from the FutureGen Alliance today to discuss FutureGen.
It's a step the Democratic Illinois senator is taking to make sure "the delegation is ready on day one to move forward with FutureGen," said Durbin spokeswoman Christina Mulka.
Those who want the clean-coal-powered plant to be built in Mattoon are hopeful the project will move forward under President-elect Barack Obama's leadership. Obama, who stepped down from his Illinois Senate seat Sunday, has signed every letter sent from the Illinois delegation supporting FutureGen since he was elected in 2005, according to a letter U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson sent to Obama last week. Johnson urged Obama to move forward on FutureGen.
While FutureGen supporters are feeling hopeful about Obama's support for FutureGen, they're also waiting for him to name his energy secretary.
Michael Mudd, the CEO of the alliance formed by 13 international power companies to build the $1.8 billion plant, said he knows Obama has expressed support for several clean-coal plants, and he wants FutureGen in Mattoon to be the first to happen. He said it's farther along than any other similar project.
FutureGen Alliance officials are in Washington, D.C., talking to members of Obama's transition team about the project, Mudd said.
"We think it's very important to engage the team ... to ensure that FutureGen becomes a priority among the new administration," Mudd said. The alliance will be exercising its options on the 400 acres northwest of Mattoon where it would store liquefied carbon dioxide. Previously, it announced it would do so last summer, but Mudd said the purchase won't be official until later this month.
Meanwhile, back in Mattoon, those vested in FutureGen are hopeful the power plant will be constructed northwest of their city.
Mayor Dave Cline said residents have been positive for almost a year now, since the project was announced last December. Soon after, the Department of Energy pulled its support after earlier pledging to pay for about three-quarters of the project. Mattoon residents were hopeful that either presidential candidate would support the program, but "the president being from (Illinois) can't hurt," Cline said. "A majority of the public still supports it, which says a lot about the project itself," Cline said. And while Cline said he knows the alliance is still working to make the project happen, "it's more of a wait-and-see type thing," he said.
Angela Griffin, the president of Coles Together, which helped recruit FutureGen to Mattoon, said while her organization isn't doing anything differently, she thinks residents have faith Obama can make FutureGen happen. "The fact that Coles County carried Obama in the election – a blue county alone in a sea of red counties – is an indication that the citizens believe Obama will create clean-energy jobs in the United States and will make the right energy choices over the next few years," Griffin said.
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- Obituaries