Atty. Gen. Madigan says ComEd rubbed out clean-coal bill
By STEVE DANIELS, CRAIN'S

June 2, 2008 – The office of Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan accused Commonwealth Edison Co. of killing state legislation that would have eased the way for a new generation of coal-fired power plants designed to operate cleanly.

The bill, which would have required utilities to purchase up to 5% of their electricity from clean-coal plants like one proposed for Downstate Taylorville, fell short of the 60 votes needed to pass the House on Saturday.

Ms. Madigan “is disappointed ComEd and its corporate parent, Exelon Corp., worked to kill the clean-coal bill in Illinois,” said Benjamin Weinberg, chief of the public interest division for the attorney general. “Attorney General Madigan is anxious to return to the table, and hopefully this time ComEd will be negotiating in good faith.”

In an e-mailed statement, ComEd said it supports environmentally friendly power plants "provided they are cost-effective for customers. . . .We are concerned about rushing into a potential solution without a thorough study of the expected costs, risks and benefits for our customers."

Key problems ComEd had with the bill, which the utility said were "consistent throughout our discussions," also included whether its customers would be subject to ballooning cost estimates, which have been common at other proposed clean-coal plants nationally, and the appearance of a "potential windfall" for Tenaska.

A new version of the bill could be considered when the Legislature returns to Springfield for its fall veto session.

Negotiators for Ms. Madigan said they agreed to virtually all of ComEd’s initial demands on the bill, which originally would have required utilities to buy up to 25% of the power to be delivered to customers from clean-coal plants by 2025. But, they said, the utility ended up lobbying aggressively to kill the compromise version that followed.

The bill’s most immediate effect would have been to boost the chances for Nebraska-based Tenasca Inc. to build a 600-megawatt coal plant in Taylorville that would strive to meet future global-warming requirements by removing carbon from the plant’s emissions for burial later. The most recent cost estimate for the plant is $2.5 billion, but the bill would have made the new mandates subject to further approval by the General Assembly after completion of a detailed cost study.

The legislation was supported by unions, environmentalists, consumer advocates and the coal industry. Groups representing the state’s manufacturers and retailers opposed it, along with ComEd.



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