‘Clean Coal’ FutureGen program is canceled by DoE

The Department of Energy on Wednesday officially quashed a $1.8 billion clean-coal project slated for central Illinois, leaving the experimental venture to capture carbon emissions dependent on Congress for survival.

The FutureGen Industrial Alliance was cooperating with the Energy Department to develop a coal-fired power plant designed to gasify and store carbon emissions deep within the Earth, a process known as sequestration. But the Energy Department withdrew its support because of ballooning cost estimates on what was initially supposed to be a $1 billion project.


The plan preferred by the Energy Department would likely undermine FutureGen, a non-profit with about $400 million in private funding from 13 energy companies.

Chicago Tribune