Taylorville Energy Center Charges Forward After Public Meetings
October 30, 2009

The Taylorville Energy Center (TEC) took a big leap forward in development activities with the completion of two public meetings in Taylorville over the past two weeks. Many Taylorville community leaders, labor union representatives, state economic development leaders and coal industry representatives spoke in favor of the project at these hearings, showing the broadbased support for TEC in Illinois.

On Oct. 21, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency accepted public comments on the TEC’s air quality permit extension. The extension to the permit was requested by Christian County Generation in order to meet legislative requirements in the Illinois Clean Coal Portfolio Standard Law that a detailed engineering study and cost report be performed at the Taylorville Energy Center before it can move forward. No changes to the permit are being made, except to update language about using the best available emission control technology (BACT), current modeling demonstration, update regulatory changes, and extend the permit so that construction can begin later than originally required under the initial permit.

On Wednesday, Oct. 28, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) accepted public comments on the scope of an environmental impact statement (EIS) for TEC. The EIS is part of the process DOE must complete before it makes a final decision on whether to grant the Taylorville Energy Center a federal loan guarantee. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 authorized DOE to provide loan guarantees to coal-fed power projects that capture carbon dioxide. The Taylorville Energy Center has been selected by the DOE to proceed to final negotiation phase for loan guarantee, pending a study of the potential environmental impacts of the project. During the public meeting, members of the public were invited to ask the DOE to address particular issues related to the construction or operation of the Taylorville Energy Center in the EIS, including environmental considerations and socioeconomic implications. The DOE will assemble the topics suggested by the public and determine whether to include them in its EIS. The EIS will be issued in draft form for public comment. At that time, DOE will hold a public hearing on the draft EIS. After considering all public comments received, DOE will issue a final EIS before it makes a decision on the loan guarantee. This is the same EIS process that was employed for the FutureGen site in Mattoon, Ill.

TEC is just the type of advanced technology facility that the U.S. DOE has been charged to support through its loan guarantee program. The loan guarantee would bring significant savings in financing costs to the project, which would be passed on to Illinois ratepayers, and provide financial security during unpredictable financial markets by providing federal backing for the project.

We are confident that this project, which will be among the most environmentally responsible in the world with added ability to capture at least 50 percent of the carbon dioxide that would otherwise enter the atmosphere, will both be granted an air quality permit extension and DOE loan guarantee.

The project is closer than it has ever been to becoming a reality in Christian County, with its 2,500 jobs at peak construction, hundreds of operating, contractor and mining jobs, and the ability to help revitalize the Illinois coal industry.