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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gasification Technologies -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (492)	10/30/2006 7:50:23 AM
From: Dennis Roth	Respond to of 1740

All four towns eventually could get FutureGen plants, CEO says By Tim Mitchell Sunday, October 29, 2006 news-gazette.com TUSCOLA – The chief executive officer of the FutureGen Alliance says all four finalists for his organization's project could be in line to get a clean-coal gasification plant if they pass environmental tests. "FutureGen must not be an end to itself," FutureGen Alliance CEO Mike Mudd said during a tour Friday afternoon of a proposed site in rural Tuscola. "It must be a pathway that shows that coal will remain a viable energy option for our children and grandchildren." Earlier in the day, Mudd toured another proposed site in Mattoon. FutureGen is a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of Energy and a nonprofit consortium of private companies that use or produce coal. Tuscola and Mattoon are competing against Odessa, Texas, and Jewett, Texas, to get a $1 billion facility. "All four of these locations are wonderful sites," Mudd said. "Every one of them would be a wonderful site for a clean-coal gasification power plant." Mudd said he was impressed by the enthusiasm Tuscola residents have shown for FutureGen. "Everywhere I went today, I saw a sign promoting FutureGen," Mudd said. "Then I stopped for lunch at Flesor's Candy Kitchen, and my waitress was wearing a FutureGen button. I can definitely see that the community is rallying behind this project." Brian Moody, executive director for Tuscola Economic Development Inc., said Mudd also told him Tuscola and Mattoon could be in line for power plants that use FutureGen technology. "It makes us feel confident we can continue to proceed forward, knowing that all our work is not for naught," Moody said. "Given all the work and research we have done, these plants are going to be built." Mudd said his team of researchers will collect more data on all four finalists to determine if any or all of them meet the standards of the National Environmental Policy Act. By next July, the Department of Energy will find out if one, two, three or all four sites are environmentally acceptable. "Then we will complete negotiations with the remaining communities and announce a selection by fall of 2007," Mudd said. Most power plants release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as carbon fuels are burned, but FutureGen will use new technology to convert coal into a gas to produce electricity. Instead of emitting carbon dioxide into the air, the gas will be piped a mile underground to an ancient saltwater sea contained by sandstone. The gas will dissolve in the water over 100 years. The FutureGen Alliance wants to build the world's cleanest power plant with near-zero emissions to produce enough electricity to power 150,000 homes. In addition, the plant is expected to produce hydrogen gas that could be used in refineries or clean-burning fuel cells. The facility is expected to produce more than 1,000 construction jobs and 150 permanent plant jobs by 2012. Tuscola's site is on farmland west of the city. The land, owned by the Pflum and Tunks families, is near the Equistar and Cabot chemical production plants. The Mattoon site, a half-mile west of town on Illinois 121, is 250 acres. ====== FutureGen CEO visits Mattoon, Tuscola sites Friday, October 27, 2006 11:19 PM CDT By HERB MEEKER, Staff Writer hmeeker@jg-tc.com jg-tc.com MATTOON -- The head of FutureGen Alliance was on the road Friday in Illinois visiting the proposed sites in Central Illinois with a very tight schedule. FutureGen is a consortium of utilities and coal-related corporations working with the Department of Energy to develop a viable near-zero emissions power plant fueled by coal. One of four sites in Illinois and Texas will be chosen to host the power plant that will pump carbon dioxide thousands of feet underground to eliminate greenhouse gases from the power generation process. “This is my first opportunity to see all four sites,” said FutureGen Alliance CEO Michael Mudd Friday during a phone interview while driving between Mattoon and Tuscola. “And it is an opportunity to meet the team members who have worked on the proposals for their sites.” With the selection process on an accelerated scheduled, FutureGen officials plan to announce the site for the plant in September 2007. The visits to sites in Texas this week, and at Mattoon and Tuscola were part of the data-gathering process for FutureGen’s management team. Presentations on the sites were made both in Mattoon and Tuscola by staff involved in the data-gathering and public hearings. Mudd said he was impressed with the professionalism of the team members from all finalist sites. Mattoon and Tuscola and the sites near Jewett and Odessa, Texas were chosen from 12 sites in several states in July for conforming to the scientific properties needed for a power plant sequestering carbon dioxide underground. “There are three reasons we are visiting any of these sites. First, they are good sites. Second, the teams are extremely skilled and professional. And the proposals they offered were first class,” said Mudd. “The people of this area should be congratulating the people responsible for these proposals. Their hard work is the reason I am here today.” Fortunately, the workload is winding down for the FutureGen proposal teams. In mid-November, the final local submittal deadline will be met for the environmental impact documents, said Coles Together President Angela Griffin. All sites must conform to federal environmental standards to remain in the final round of the selection process next summer. “We’ll be wrapping up the environmental work by Nov. 15. Then the environmental volume will be submitted. And then you have more hearings on environmental questions in the spring,” Griffin said. “They are staying on schedule. All the timelines are being met. And success of this project depends on that.” Contact Herb Meeker at hmeeker@jg-tc.com or 238-6869.

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (492)	5/25/2007 4:08:21 PM
From: Dennis Roth	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1740

US DOE draft EIS says all proposed FutureGen plant sites suitable Washington (Platts)--25May2007 platts.com Any of the four sites under consideration to host the US Department of energy's proposed near-zero emissions coal-fired power plant would be suitable, a draft environmental impact statement released by the agency on Friday has concluded. The 1,800-page draft EIS lays out the analysis done on each site of the environmental characteristics applicable to the so-called FutureGen project. DOE and its industry partners will select a preferred site for the plant in September. The plant would be a 275-MW integrated gasification combined-cycle power plant with carbon capture and sequestration capabilities. The project is seen as a critical element in DOE's program to develop technology to allow the continued use of coal with little or no carbon emissions. "DOE's finalization and release of the DEIS is a major milestone as it keeps this project moving forward at a fast pace to develop this much needed, first-of-a-kind, research and development project," Michael Mudd, CEO of the FutureGen Alliance, the industry consortium putting up the private sector share of the money, said in a statement. "With the issue of climate change at the top of the Congress' domestic agenda...FutureGen and its continued progress towards advancing new technologies such as carbon capture and sequestration is more important than ever before." The project is slated to cost $1.8 billion and officials are estimating that the plant will generate $300 million in electricity sales. DOE is expected contribute more than than $1 billion toward the project and the industry group will provide nearly $400 million. DOE will hold a 45-day comment period on the draft and will schedule public meetings on the document at each of the sites under consideration for the plant. They are Mattoon and Tuscola, in Illinois, and in Jewett and Odessa in Texas. The department hopes to publish the final EIS this summer. Among the issues the draft considered were water availability, impacts on air quality, aesthetics and transportation and traffic. Megan Doern, a spokeswoman for the Alliance, said the draft EIS provided no indication of which site had the upper hand, adding that considerations such as state tax incentives and indemnification from legal liability at each of the sites were not considered in the draft EIS. --Daniel Whitten, daniel_whitten@platts.com

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (492)	6/10/2007 8:55:11 AM
From: Dennis Roth	Respond to of 1740

FutureGen sites get a last chance to make case news-gazette.com

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (492)	11/9/2007 9:03:03 AM
From: Dennis Roth	Respond to of 1740

FutureGen site selection Dec. 17 mywesttexas.com Excerpt: "The date I have is Dec. 17 and I think it's a pretty hard date," said FutureGen Texas Regional Coordinator Hoxie Smith of Midland on Oct. 25. "The alliance just about knows what the decision is and they're waiting on the U.S. Department of Energy to finish their environmental studies and announce the record of decision.

To: Dennis Roth who wrote (492)	12/18/2007 10:51:27 AM
From: Dennis Roth	Respond to of 1740

FutureGen picks Mattoon, Ill. for clean-coal plant reuters.com HOUSTON, Dec 18 (Reuters) - The FutureGen Alliance named Mattoon, Illinois, as the site for a clean coal-fired power plant, beating out another site in Illinois and two in Texas, officials said on Tuesday. The public-private venture which includes companies from around the world, wants to design and test technology required to turn coal into a gas that can be stripped of harmful emissions, then burned to produce electricity and hydrogen. FutureGen's most ambitious goal is to capture carbon dioxide -- widely blamed for global warming -- and store it underground permanently. The plant is expected to be online in 2012. (Reporting by Eileen O'Grady)