Wonderful news in Mattoon, Illinois

[BrianD]

WASHINGTON -- Mattoon, Ill., was chosen this morning as the site for a $1.75 billion coal-fueled power plant, a decision that could bring hundreds of new jobs and clout to the region.

Sources told the Post-Dispatch that FutureGen Industrial Alliance would be announcing their selection of Mattoon. The firm was choosing between Mattoon and Tuscola in Illinois and Odessa and Jewett, Texas.

The power plant is expected to bring with it 150 permanent full-time jobs and 1,300 construction jobs and the honor of being home of the "world's cleanest coal-fueled power plant."

The Energy Department conceived FutureGen in February 2003 as a way to advance so-called clean coal technology. The department is expected to contribute more than $1 billion for the project with the remaining costs shared among the members of the FutureGen Alliance, one of which is St. Louis-based Peabody Energy Corp.

The Illinois General Assembly and Gov. Rod Blagojevich agreed to offer $80 million in tax breaks, grants and low-interest loans to win the project -- a lot, but just a fraction of the $981 billion that Texas had dangled for the project.

FutureGen is expected to begin operation in the fall of 2012. The plant will be able to produce 275 megawatts of electricity, a small fraction of the power produced by conventional plants. However, the real goal is to prove the feasibility of producing electricity from coal with near-zero emissions in hopes that it can jump-start similar projects on a larger scale in the U.S. and around the world.