Illinois bills aiding coal industry await action
BY ADAM JADHAV, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

NEW PLANTS • Legislation would aid projects considered for Taylorville,
and Tuscola or Mattoon

July 13, 2007 – Thousands of jobs and a possible revival of the state's coal industry could evaporate if two bills in the Illinois Legislature are left unattended, some officials say.

The bills concern possible high-tech power plants; one a $2 billion private project in Taylorville and the other a federal government-led experiment that might locate in Tuscola or Mattoon.

The proposals have attracted some strange bedfellows. Big businesses, an environmental group and some consumer organizations have lined up in support, as have legislators from both sides of the aisle.

But while neither measure is dead, the coal industry and even a clean air activist seem slightly worried.

"Nearly everybody we talked to in Illinois wants this," said Bill Braudt, a manager with Tenaska, a Nebraska-based corporation developing the new Taylorville power plant. "So why aren't we going forward? It doesn't quite make sense."

At issue is a new technology involving coal gasification that causes less pollution. The idea is to harness cheap and abundant coal while drastically cutting emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury, all of which are belched from the typical coal power plant.

The idea resonates particularly in Illinois, where the coal buried within the state's borders could power the nation's energy consumption for nearly a hundred years, the industry says.

The proposed Taylorville plant is aimed at taking a specific type of Illinois coal and demonstrating its commercial viability. This is accomplished by using new technology that converts coal to gas to power turbines, rather than burning it to heat water for steam.

But Tenaska wants legislation that guarantees an electric rate for the Taylorville plant and requires utilities such as Ameren to buy some of the juice. Without it, Braudt said, the plant will not go forward and the corporation may consider other states.

Similarly, the national FutureGen project, an experimental power plant being driven by the U.S. Department of Energy — with the help of the power industry — could be located in the central Illinois cities of Tuscola or Mattoon. But the state is competing with sites in Texas, which means a legislative incentive package must pass, said Phillip Gonet, president of the Illinois Coal Association.

That project, too, has wide support as it would be a demonstration plant for both the coal gasification technology as well as equipment to capture carbon dioxide emissions and contain them deep underground. Together, supporters say, the technologies represent the future of clean coal and an answer to pollution and global warming.

But Gonet said a key legal provision in stalled legislation — one that would basically entitle the FutureGen developers to legal protection from the state — must pass for Illinois to compete with Texas.

Emphasizing the interest in the plant, on Thursday, state Rep. Kurt Granberg, D-Carlyle, announced a $2.5 million grant from the Illinois Clean Coal Review Board to entice the public-private partnership to choose a site in Illinois for FutureGen.

In both cases, business groups have joined with the national Clean Air Task Force, a nonprofit that has studied clean coal technology. Thompson supports the legislation for both projects and opposes a recent objection to the Taylorville plant by the Sierra Club. That group largely has fought new construction of coal plants in favor of alternative energy generators like wind farms.

"That's bad public policy," said Thompson. "When this plant goes online, the existing coal plants in Illinois are going to look obsolete."

But that future still hinges on legislative action, at a time when Springfield politics are a fractured spectacle. Issues pertaining to the budget, gambling and electric rates have dominated much debate, Gonet said, leaving less time for the more complicated provisions for the Taylorville project and incentives for FutureGen.

Legislative leaders such as state Sen. Frank Watson, a Greenville

Republican and the minority leader, report promising negotiations for the Taylorville plant. State Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, who has been an advocate for FutureGen incentives, said he, too, has high hopes.

But Righter added the climate in the Statehouse remains unpredictable.

"The political turbulence you see in Springfield right now is a tornado," Righter said. "It's swirling through and you're not sure how why it's going to reach or what legislation it will toss in the air."

Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat, and Speaker of the House, where both pieces of legislation await action, wields considerable influence over what provisions are ultimately passed. His spokesman, Steve Brown, said Madigan is supportive of the measures.

"I don't think the fears (that the legislation won't get called) are particularly well-founded," Brown said.

Adam.Jadhav@post-dispatch.com


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