Taylorville coal project clears hurdle
BY MIKE RIOPELL, DECATUR HERALD-REVIEW

February 1, 2008 – SPRINGFIELD - The developers of a proposed clean-burning coal power plant in Taylorville won a federal air permit this week, but they still have a lot of work to do before the $2 billion project can be built. The Sierra Club protested an Environmental Protection Agency permit for the Taylorville Energy Center. A federal board overturned that appeal this week.

"We’re pleased that the board recognized the significant environmental and technological advances made in the development of the Taylorville Energy Center," Tenaska Vice President Bart Ford said in a statement.

Tenaska is the Nebraska-based energy company developing the Taylorville Energy Center.

But the project stalled last year because the company failed to get help from state lawmakers. Tenaska wanted long-term contracts with utility companies to ensure financing for the plant.

With lawmakers balking, the developers repeatedly threatened to move the project out of Illinois and publicly criticized Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office for not supporting them.

But this week, Tenaska and attorney general officials met again to try to rework the plan. Both sides said talks were productive.

Ben Weinberg, head of the attorney general’s public interest division, said his office proposed forcing utility companies such as Ameren to buy a certain amount of electricity generated by clean coal, thereby creating a market for Tenaska’s project.

"It’s in everyone’s interest to advance a market for clean coal," Weinberg said.

The Taylorville Energy Center is called a "clean coal" plant because its technology is cleaner than typical coal plants.

It’s different, though, from the FutureGen project slated to be built in Mattoon that was all but cancelled by the federal government this week.

FutureGen would pump pollutants underground. The Tenaska project wouldn’t.

"Given the unfortunate decision yesterday on FutureGen, the Taylorville Energy Center in now critical to revitalizing the Illinois coal industry," Illinois Coal Association President Phil Gonet said in a statement.



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