Washington, D.C. - Illinois congressmen Timothy V. Johnson, John Shimkus and Jerry Costello are pleased that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on FutureGen rates all four sites - Mattoon and Tuscola, Illinois, and Jewett and Odessa, Texas - equally.

   The official notification, which will be issued Friday, Nov.  9, states, “DOE’s preferred alternative is to fund the Project at any one of the acceptable sites.  DOE tentatively finds all four alternative sites to be acceptable.”

   A 30 day public comment period will follow the Nov. 16 publication of the EIS in the Federal Register.  The Department of Energy’s Record of Decision is expected the week of December 17.  Then the FutureGen Alliance (www.futuregenalliance.org) will make a final site selection.

   “This is a positive development,” said Rep. Johnson. “We know we remain in the running and we remain optimistic that when all factors are objectively and impartially considered, Illinois will prevail.”

    Shimkus noted that the congressional team has been working on behalf of an Illinois site since Presdient Bush first proposed FutureGen in his 2003 State of the Union speech.  “We have continued to support Illinois sites through each phase of this process and are pleased that Mattoon and Tuscola are still being considered.”

   “This is another positive step forward for FutureGen that keeps Illinois in strong contention for the project,” added Costello.  “We believe that Illinois is the best location for FutureGen, and we will continue to work with state and local officials, our supporters in other states, the Department of Energy and the FutureGen Alliance to bring the project to fruition.” 

   FutureGen is a public-private partnership that would utilize clean coal technology to produce 275 megawatts of electricity and hydrogen gas.  Carbon dioxide emissions would be captured and sequestered.  The plant would be a research facility for development of future similar partnerships. 

###