Wednesday, July 26, 2006 1:01 AM CDT
In the running
Local officials prepare for next FutureGen test
By HERB MEEKER, Staff Writer
hmeeker@jg-tc.com
MATTOON -- Mayor Charlie White couldn’t be in two places at once Tuesday morning as city officials heard that Mattoon qualified as a finalist for the FutureGen power plant while the local Illinois Army National Guard unit was leaving for its mission to Iraq.
Inadvertently leaving his cell phone at City Hall, White was uncharacteristically out of the loop when the announcement was broadcast live to other city officials and residents while he was at the Major Gen. John Phipps National Guard Armory across town.
Mattoon, Tuscola, Odessa, Texas, and a site called “The Heart of Brazos” near Jewett, Texas, made the cut Tuesday as finalist sites for the $1 billion project to build and operate the “cleanest power plant in the world.” The electrical plant fueled by coal will be operational by 2012, according to the FutureGen Alliance, which has partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy for developing new uses of fossil fuels.
“It made me real happy to see such a turnout at the armory for the National Guard. Then Andy Adair brought over his cell phone and I found out we made it,” White said. “That made me feel real great, too.”
What makes him happy is the city is still in the running for the prototype energy plant that will put Mattoon on the map economically and produce about 1,500 construction jobs over the next few years and 150 or more plant jobs for decades, as well as other jobs related to the energy industry.
“This is the biggest economic news in the history of Mattoon,” the 73-year-old retired banker said. “You couldn’t buy as much press coverage as we’ve got today. They know where Mattoon is right now.”
It will take about one year before the final FutureGen site is chosen through another rigorous scientific analysis of the four finalist sites.
“It’s great to be recognized even if we don’t get it,” said Lew Stiff, a Mattoon Planning Commission member. “If it goes somewhere else, there will be plenty of fallout for us.”
The FutureGen Alliance is a consortium of the largest coal producers and users in the world. It formed a partnership last year with the energy department to locate the best site in the United States to build the power plant. Officials from total of 22 sites applied in April for consideration by FutureGen. In May, Mattoon, Tuscola, Marshall and Effingham were chosen as finalists among 12 sites in seven states; the others were in Texas, Wyoming, North Dakota, Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia.
FutureGen officials said the next step of choosing the plant site includes a comprehensive environmental evaluation and more detailed site characterization. At the same time, power plant engineering will move forward.
Angela Griffin, president of Coles Together, the county’s economic development organization, was at the Illinois Coal Office in Springfield to hear Tuesday’s announcement. She said she was confident because the local team that worked on the project was able to answer all the questions it was presented.
“All along, I felt our site was solid,” she said. “We knew we met the criteria. If we had not made the cut, I would have felt it was because of a reason beyond our control.”
She will be part of the local group, along with teams from the other finalist sites, that will travel to Pittsburgh next week to learn about the next stage of the selection process.
Griffin noted that FutureGen officials on Tuesday mentioned the Mattoon location’s geology and topography as giving it an advantage
Making the initial list for the project was enough to help local economic development efforts, Griffin added. Regardless of what eventually happens with FutureGen, there will be similar projects in the future and the work has “raised the awareness” about the Coles County area as a candidate for them, she said.
“First and foremost, the local team has really proven itself under the most rigorous of circumstances,” Griffin said. “I believe we have shown we have the ability to respond. All that just elevates Coles County for these kinds of projects.”
Mary Wetzel, Mattoon Area Chamber of Commerce executive director, said the announcement was “positive news our community has needed and wanted.”
Griffin also said she is proud of the teams working for the other Illinois communities on the list. All the teams recognized that “this truly remains a regional project,” and the plant locating anywhere in Illinois would help the entire region, she said.
The announcement during the Webcast at city hall produced a round of cheers and handshakes from the audience of city officials, business owners and residents. The celebration drowned out the announcement of the other finalist sites. City treasurer and attorney Preston Owen called someone who was watching the Webcast to confirm that Tuscola and both Texas sites were in the final four with Mattoon.
Public Works Director Dave Wortman had the widest smile among the celebrants. At one point someone asked him to break out the champagne. In the public building, none was available.
“A lot of people pulled this together. The state did great work for us. Coles Together and the Coles County Regional Planning Commission helped, too. And Charleston helped us with the water plan,” Wortman said.
Charleston leaders joined with Mattoon to submit a plan to meet the 3.6 million gallons of water needed for the energy plant. The two cities agreed to use wastewater from their treatment plants for fulfilling that vital part of the criteria for FutureGen.
Staff Writer Dave Fopay contributed to this story.
Contact Herb Meeker at hmeeker@jg-tc.com or 238-6869.
Add your comments
Not already registered?
Then click Here.
Comment policy:
JG-TC.com encourages readers to engage in civil conversation with their neighbors. Comments that are submitted are not posted to the site immediately. They go into a queue to be moderated and may take several hours to be reviewed. Comments posted on Saturday may not be reviewed until Sunday afternoon.
In order to keep the page a set width, long lines (mostly long links) will be chopped. Try putting spaces in your links or consider using tinyurl.com to make a smaller link that you can include.
We will never edit or alter your comments, but we do reserve the right to remove comments that violate our code of conduct.
No comment may contain:
* Potentially libelous statements; such as accusing somebody of a crime, defamation of character, or statements that can harm somebody's reputation.
* Obscene, explicit, or racist language.
* Personal attacks, insults, threats, harassment or inciting violence.
* Commercial product promotions.
If you have any questions, please contact our moderator.
|
|
CLICK TO ENLARGE
 Eric Hiltner (JG/T-C)
Commissioners Randy Ervin, Dave Schilling and Joe McKenzie celebrate in Mattoon City Hall on Tuesday after hearing that Mattoon is a FutureGen finalist.
|
|
|
