FutureGen in Mattoon

It appears that most Americans are not even aware of the FutureGen Initiative that is very likely to greatly improve the economy in the Mattoon – Charleston area in Illinois. This initiative will allow for coal-fired power plants to capture the most emissions of carbon dioxide, making it possible to use our over-abundance natural coal resources near the surface of the earth to produce electricity and doing it without, as previous production did, polluting the environment.

Henry Henderson, Midwest program director of the Natural Resources Defense Council, has stated that it is impossible to make a pollution-free coal plant but also said that FutureGen should represent a great improvement and will demonstrate the economic viability of such processes.

This project has never gotten much publicity outside of certain areas in Illinois and Texas. While numerous communities across the country bid for the chance to be the site of FutureGen, with the promise of new jobs and investment, the list of potential candidates was eventually was narrowed down to four communities.

The FutureGen project was something that the Bush Administration had included in the 2007 budget.

In late 2007 officials settled on Mattoon. However, the Bush administration almost immediately expressed its displeasure and shortly thereafter yanked all funding.

Then in June 2009, with a new president from Illinois and with new and different national policies on global warming and energy development, federal officials and an alliance of energy companies announced they were ready to restart FutureGen.

The idea is that sometimes when the government works with private enterprise they are able to accomplish a lot more with a lot less. This particular initiative is a result of what happens when government and free enterprise private sector partnerships come together to work on solving a problem and improve our country.

FutureGen is a public-private partnership to build a first-of-its-kind coal-fueled, near-zero emissions power plant. The FutureGen plant will cost approximately $1.5 billion to build. By useing cutting-edge technologies it will generate electricity while capturing and permanently storing carbon dioxide deep underneath the surface of the earth. Additionally, the plant will produce hydrogen and certain byproducts for possible use by other industries.

The Alliance currently plans to have a visitor's or education center at the FutureGen facility.

Welcome to Mattoon

Mattoon is a city in Coles County in Central Illinois. The population was 18,291 as of the 2000 census. It is a principal city of the Charleston–Mattoon Micropolitan Statistical Area and the future home of the proposed FutureGen project.

Traditionally a stronghold of manufacturing, Mattoon has been hurt by the loss of some major plants over the last couple of decades.

On December 18, 2007, Mattoon was chosen to be the official site of the U.S. Department of Energy's FutureGen zero emission power plant after an intense competition with several other sites, particularly in Illinois (including nearby Effingham) and Texas. The project will build a near zero-emissions coal-fueled power plant that intends to produce hydrogen and electricity while using carbon capture and storage.

In 2009, the America’s Power Factuality Tour stopped at Mattoon, IL to report on its role in generating electricity in the United States and wrote on its blog that "coal-based electricity facilities have made great strides in reducing nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and other pollutants from ever being emitted into the air. In fact, when it comes to all regulated pollutants, coal plants are 77 percent cleaner in terms of emissions currently regulated under existing Clean Air Act programs per unit of energy produced. But what about carbon dioxide and other emissions? One answer (there are many!) is FutureGen, a public-private partnership to build the world's first near-zero emissions coal-based power plant. Mattoon is the best site in the entire country to build the plant, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, due to the surrounding geology."

After the opening of the Lender's Bagels factory in 1986, Mattoon declared itself the "Bagel Capital of the World." Mattoon is also home to the world's largest bagel and an annual summer event called "Lenders Bagelfest."