Progress On Deal For Taylorville Energy Plant Slow
BY TIM LANDIS BUSINESS EDITOR, STATE JOURNAL REGISTER

April 3, 2008 – TAYLORVILLE — There has been progress, but plenty of work remains for a political deal to build a $2.5 billion energy plant outside Taylorville that developers say would cleanly burn Illinois coal and create hundreds of jobs.

Negotiations have continued for months on state legislation that would guarantee a market for electricity produced at the Taylorville Energy Center by allowing the state’s two largest utilities to enter into long-term contracts for the power.

But the Illinois attorney general’s office, among others, raised questions about the risk to ratepayers if there are cost overruns.

“The negotiations are going well, if slow. We think we are almost there,” said Bill Braudt Jr., general manager of business development for Tenaska Inc., the Nebraska-based energy company behind the project.

Braudt also said prior to a public meeting Wednesday night to update local residents and elected officials that Tenaska remains committed to building on a site near the Christian County community of 12,000, about 30 miles southeast of Springfield.

Legislation approved by the Illinois Senate and awaiting action in the House would require Ameren Corp. and Commonwealth Edison, two utilities that cover most of the state, to sign long-term contracts for electricity from the Taylorville plant.

Current law limits contracts to three years.

But Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office asked for stronger guarantees that ratepayers would not wind up footing the bill if the experimental plant cost more to build than expected.

“I would share their view that we’ve made some progress, but one issue that remains unresolved is what would be the price of the electricity that would be produced,” said bill sponsor state Rep. Gary Hannig, D-Litchfield.

Environmental and farm groups also have raised questions about pollution-control measures and effects of the project on agriculture in the area. Representatives of the Illinois Sierra Club and the Christian County Farm Bureau planned to attend the Wednesday meeting.

“We’re just out there to get information like anyone else,” said Farm Bureau manager Eric Johnson, adding that the bureau has not taken a position on the project.

The Sierra Club unsuccessfully challenged a federal air permit for the Taylorville plant, but Jack Darin with the Illinois chapter said the group would continue to push for use of carbon sequestration — injecting carbon dioxide into the earth to cut emissions — like that proposed for a now-canceled FutureGen gasification plant near Mattoon.

“I think they could not be more different projects. FutureGen was going to sequester and otherwise deal with global-warming gases. Tenaska plans to deal with none of it,” Darin said.

Taylorville Mayor Frank Mathon said it has been a long wait for the community, where support generally has been strong for bringing back coal industry jobs in a county where the last mine closed in 1994.

“It’s extremely frustrating for the community. You talk about the economy, and we’re no different than a lot of communities downstate. We’re seeing our expenses go up, and we’re seeing our tax base erode to a certain degree. This would be a real shot in the arm,” he said.

Braudt said developers also plan to apply for federal energy tax credits by a May 2 deadline if the legislation is approved.

Tim Landis can be reached at 788-1536.


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