Durbin Statement Following DOE Announcement of Contract Expiration

Statement

Durbin Statement Following DOE Announcement of Contract Expiration

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin today issued the following statement after the Department of Energy (DOE), at the direction of Secretary Sam Bodman, sent a letter to the FutureGen Alliance announcing the formal termination of their contract. Since the formation of the Alliance, the first budget period of the cooperative agreement with the DOE has been scheduled to end on June 15, 2008.

"Secretary Bodman seems to have a knack for adding insult to injury. Now, with large portions of our state, including Coles County, facing devastating flooding the DOE took pains to announce what we already know - the FutureGen cooperative agreement will end on Sunday. At every opportunity, I have joined with other Senators and Representatives on a bipartisan basis to ask the Energy Department for an extension of this contract, but my requests have gone unanswered.

"There was no reason for the Secretary to deliver this news in the middle of a natural disaster -- unless he hoped that his actions would go unremarked as people in and around Mattoon were occupied with other concerns. I can assure the Secretary that this ill-timed announcement will not go unnoticed.

"In just a few months, this administration will be packing up and leaving town. I am going to be here waiting for the next administration to make good on the federal government's commitment to move forward with this important project."

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