DOE Revives FutureGen, Reversing Bush-Era Decision

The Obama administration gave conditional support today for a federal-industry partnership that would build an advanced coal-burning power plant in Illinois to trap and store carbon dioxide emissions, reversing a Bush-era decision to abandon the FutureGen project.

The Energy Department plans to contribute slightly more than $1 billion to the project. The announcement follows pressure from Illinois lawmakers — including Dick Durbin, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat — who had savaged former Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman’s decision to abandon the plan early last year.

DOE said FutureGen would be the first commercial-scale, “fully integrated” carbon capture and sequestration project in the country. The plant would marry the use of integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) technology with greenhouse gas emission controls.

NY Times