Clean-coal plants make comeback in Illinois
By STEVE DANIELS, CRAIN'S

July 16, 2008 – A bill easing the way for construction of a new generation of clean-coal power plants in Illinois, left for dead after failing to pass the House in late May, was suddenly revived Wednesday after electric utility Commonwealth Edison Co. lifted its opposition to the measure.

The House easily passed the legislation by an 86-5 vote. Senate consideration isn’t expected until the fall veto session, but ComEd’s support is expected to clear the way for passage there too.

The bill would require utilities and power marketers to buy 5% of their electricity from facilities like the 600-megawatt plant proposed for Downstate Taylorville, which is designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by separating carbon during the coal-burning process for later burial.

Like earlier versions, the House-passed bill would require Taylorville plant developer Tenaska Co. to conduct a detailed cost study before the bill’s provisions take effect. The Legislature then would have to vote again to move forward with the project after seeing the study, as well as critiques of the document by state utility regulators.

The state would foot the bill for that study, which is projected to cost between $10 million and $18 million.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, along with her father, House Speaker Michael Madigan, backs the bill as a way of blunting anticipated spikes in the price of power and creating coal-industry jobs Downstate. But the carbon-sequestration technology is expensive, and its feasibility has yet to be proven.

“In the long run, developing this technology will save consumers money,” said Susan Hedman, senior policy adviser to Ms. Madigan.

Consumer groups, environmental organizations and labor unions joined with ComEd to back the measure. ComEd cited new provisions requiring additional reviews of the feasibility study by state utility regulators and others for its change of heart.

“We now support the bill because it ensures that a full study of the costs will be performed, a complete review of the customer impacts will be explored by the (Illinois Commerce Commission), and a complete understanding of the environmental benefits will be known before the General Assembly determines whether to build the plant and pass costs onto our customers,” ComEd said in a statement.

If the bill is passed, the plant won’t be built before 2014 and probably won’t come online until 2016, Ms. Hedman said.

Electricity suppliers to businesses opposed the legislation. “We’re opposed to being forced to enter into a contract with a private developer,” said David Fein, vice-president for energy policy for Constellation Energy Group Inc., a leading power supplier.



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