Jan 7, 2009 6:12 pm US/Central
Energy Nominee Leaves Durbin Hopeful On FutureGen
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) ―
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President-elect Barack Obama listens while Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Chu speaks at a press conference in Chicago on Dec. 15, 2008. (File)
Nicholas Kamm/Getty Images
Members of Illinois' congressional delegation left a meeting Wednesday with President-elect Barack Obama's nominee for energy secretary encouraged that an experimental coal-fired power plant once planned for Illinois could be revived.
Sen. Dick Durbin said nominee Steven Chu, known as a critic of coal, was open-minded during the meeting in Washington, D.C. about the FutureGen plant once planned for eastern Illinois, and about the fuel it would burn.
"It is clear after today's meeting, Dr. Chu understands the importance of FutureGen to Illinois and is fully aware of the delegation's commitment to moving the project forward," the Illinois Democrat said in a statement.
"Secretary Chu agreed that coal is an important element of our energy future, and based on his comments, I remain optimistic that as the new administration gains momentum, FutureGen will indeed be part of our future," Durbin said.
A spokesman for Obama's transition team said neither Chu nor Obama's staff would comment on the meeting.
In a 2007 speech, Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, called coal "my worst nightmare" and has expressed skepticism about the viability of the kind of carbon-capture technology the FutureGen plant would employ.
FutureGen came to life in 2003 as a project pairing the Department of Energy and its money with coal and power companies. Officials said FutureGen would prove the carbon dioxide released from burning coal on a commercial scale could be safely stored underground rather than released into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is a gas linked to global warming.
But after the coal and power companies decided in 2007 to build at Mattoon, Ill., the Department of Energy pulled its support, citing costs that had roughly doubled to $1.8 billion.
Durbin and others believe politics was to blame -- Mattoon was chosen over sites that included two in President Bush's home state, Texas -- and has since blocked nominations to fill Department of Energy jobs.
The plant would have brought thousands of construction jobs and 150 full-time jobs to the area, and provide a consumer for coal mined in Illinois. The state is the country's ninth-largest coal producer.
The Illinois congressional delegation and the power and coal companies also have quietly pressed Obama's staff to breathe life back into FutureGen.
Obama has said he wants to build five plants using carbon-capture technology, and supported FutureGen when he was an Illinois senator.
Reps. Tim Johnson and Judy Biggert, both Republicans, and Democratic Reps. Bill Foster, Jerry Costello and Jan Schakowsky joined Durbin at the meeting.
Johnson said Chu listened far more than he talked, but indicated he was willing to work with FutureGen's backers on the project.
"I didn't see any particular unwillingness or any close-mindedness to this project at all," Johnson said.
Opponents of FutureGen's so-called clean-coal technology say they aren't surprised Chu said coal will remain an important part of the country's energy future.
"We're not going to stop burning coal tomorrow," said Greenpeace spokesman Steven Biel.
But they hope Obama's administration steers clear of carbon-capture projects such as FutureGen that they doubt will be able to safely and cleanly lock away carbon dioxide.
"We should be investing scarce resources in renewable technologies that have been shown to work, and not money pits like FutureGen," Biel said.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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