Durbin Questions Decision to Abandon FutureGen Project in Congressional Hearing

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Durbin Questions Decision to Abandon FutureGen Project in Congressional Hearing

In a hearing of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water today, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) questioned the grounds on which the Department of Energy (DOE) pulled support for the FutureGen project in Central Illinois in order to pursue an alternative plan. Testifying on separate panels were Secretary of Energy, Samuel Bodman and the FutureGen Alliance Board Chairman, Paul Thompson.

"FutureGen was the flagship project of the President's clean coal program," said Durbin. "The project is our best hope for building and operating a near-zero emission, coal-fired power plant. Yet, after five years of progress, the Department of Energy is objecting to its own project. I am not satisfied with Secretary Bodman's explanation of cost being the reason for pulling the plug on this important project."

President Bush announced the FutureGen initiative in February 2003 as a $1 billion initiative with the DOE carrying 80% of the cost - $800 million. In March 2007, accounting for an inflation rate of 5.2%, the FutureGen Alliance estimated that the total program cost had risen to $1.8 billion. Under that estimate, the DOE and the FutureGen Alliance signed a cooperative agreement that specified the total program cost to be $1.8 billion with DOE agreeing to carry $1.1 billion of that cost. Despite this new agreement DOE cancelled the project ten months later - nearly five years after committing to FutureGen.

Durbin also conveyed the amount of work that was put into this project over the course of the site selection competition. Seven states with 12 sites put together proposals to host FutureGen. In Illinois, private groups and the state legislature worked together to come up with a compelling $90 million tax incentive package, low-interest rate loans, tax credits, liability protection, employee training, public improvement funding and support for the environmental impact statement process. The Mattoon City Council re-zoned more than 500 acres west of the city from rural-suburban to industrial use.

"I can't speak for other states, but I can tell you that the people of Illinois put their heart and soul into bringing FutureGen home," said Durbin. "Nine Illinois state agencies worked together day and night to meet DOE's deadline. Because of that work, the FutureGen project is years ahead of any new program DOE could possibly put in place to demonstrate similar technology."

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