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STATEMENT OF TAYLORVILLE ENERGY CENTER DEVELOPER ON CLEAN COAL TAX CREDITS IN FEDERAL RESCUE LEGISLATION
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 16, 2008 — CHICAGO, ILL. — The 2008 Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, signed into law October 3, contained financial incentives designed to stimulate development of clean coal energy resources that capture and store carbon emissions. Bart Ford, vice president of business development at project managing partner Tenaska, issued the following statement about how the law could help make the Taylorville project better for Illinois ratepayers:
“The Taylorville Energy Center will be a groundbreaking project using cutting-edge gasification technology to convert high sulfur Illinois coal into clean, pipeline quality substitute natural gas (SNG) and electricity. Under legislation that passed the Illinois House and is pending before the Senate (SB 1987), the plant will be required to capture and permanently sequester at least 50% of its carbon emissions. The incentive provisions of the Federal rescue package should make it significantly more cost effective for Illinois consumers to pursue permanent carbon capture and storage at the Taylorville facility.
“The plant will be privately financed, create 1,500 union construction jobs and employ hundreds of people at the plant, at an Illinois coal mine and in the surrounding area. In addition to all other benefits of this project, the biggest winner is the Illinois consumer as the Taylorville Energy Center will help hold the line on energy prices by increasing the supply of baseload power from low-cost local fuel sources.
“The Taylorville project will capture more than 50% of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, giving it an environmental profile on par with clean burning natural gas plants. The rescue measure provides a $20 tax credit for each ton of carbon dioxide permanently secured in geologic storage and a $10 tax credit for each ton of carbon dioxide permanently stored through proven enhanced oil recovery methods. By providing these incentives, the federal government has made it far more likely that projects like Taylorville, which provide environmentally responsible applications for coal, will get built.
“Savings from the tax credits will be passed directly to Illinois ratepayers. Under terms of the financial rescue package, the three million tons of carbon emissions captured by Taylorville would mean credits of between $30 million and $60 million per year, depending on whether the carbon is injected in the saline aquifer or used for enhanced oil recovery. But since the federal rescue legislation provides credits for only the first 75 million tons of carbon captured nationally, we must move forward with this plant as quickly as possible so credits remain for the Taylorville plant and Illinois consumers.”
CONTACT:
Dave Lundy, (312) 953.1122, dlundy@aileroninc.com
Jana Martin, Tenaska (402) 691-9595, jmartin@tenaska.com
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