The future, now
EDITORIAL STAFF, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

July 19, 2007 – The St. Louis region's future and that of the nation rest on two seemingly contradictory challenges: our growing appetite for energy and the pressing need to slash emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases that are released when we produce it.

It's a Gordian knot of a problem, but Illinois is poised to lead the country toward at least a partial solution — if the General Assembly in Springfield is smart enough to recognize the opportunity.

The answer comes from an unlikely source: Illinois coal. Because the state's abundant soft coal burns so "dirty," the mineral fell out of favor with power plant operators after the federal Clean Air Act was approved in 1970. Burning it produces a great deal of soot, carbon dioxide and other pollutants that form smog.

But it also produces a enormous amount of heat, and that makes it the perfect fuel for a new kind of coal-fired power plant, two of which are proposed for the state.

Unlike conventional plants, these would use a new technology called IGCC that transforms coal into a kind of synthetic natural gas. When the gas is burned, it produces less soot and pollution than the solid coal would. And as part of the chemical process that turns the coal into gas, at least 20 percent of the carbon dioxide is captured and siphoned off. It then can be used for industrial purposes such as carbonating soft drinks, or injected and stored deep underground to keep it out of the atmosphere.

Coal gasification technology has been around for years. But because it costs more to build gasification plants than traditional coal-fired plants, few have been built in this country. Today, with limits and taxes on carbon emissions being proposed as a way to fight global warming, the economics may be about to change.

One of the two new proposed plants would be built in Taylorville, about 90 miles northeast of St. Louis — but only if Illinois legislators make some changes to the complex state laws governing utilities.

Companies such as Ameren and ComEd that distribute electricity in Illinois are required to buy power at a wholesale auction covering no more than three years at a time.

But the Nebraska-based company that wants to build the Taylorville plant, Tenaska Inc., needs longer contracts with distributors in order to attract the private financing to pay for constructing the plant.

In exchange for a law that permits contracts extending as long as 40 years, Tenaska is offering to sell its power to consumers at lower prices than it would be entitled to under current regulations.

The second plant, called FutureGen, would be built by a partnership of the federal government, coal and utility companies. Illinois and Texas are vying to be the site. If Illinois wins, the plant will be built in Mattoon or Tuscola. This week, the Illinois House passed a package of economic incentives for the FutureGen project, but the state Senate has yet to act.

All this is playing out as the General Assembly tries to craft a state budget and do something to provide consumers some relief from electric rates that jumped by as much as 55 percent when deregulation went into effect in January.

Whatever other political dramas are unfolding in Springfield, legislators need to get this work done right away. Delays could very well doom the projects, which would benefit consumers and the environment.

Once gasification technology has proved itself, IGCC plants eventually could produce power while producing few pollutants and capturing and storing up to 90 percent of the carbon dioxide.

That's a solution we all could live with.


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