JG-TC.com > News > FutureGen land buy adds up to $6.5M

TODAY'S HEADLINES

SPECIAL SECTION

ONLINE POLL

ONLINE EXTRAS

SITE TOOLS

OTHER LINKS

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Lee Enterprises

Wednesday, August 6, 2008 9:32 PM CDT
FutureGen land buy adds up to $6.5M

By HERB MEEKER, Staff Writer
hmeeker@jg-tc.com

MATTOON — Purchase of the FutureGen site for $6.5 million is expected next week, according to Coles Together and FutureGen Alliance officials.

As options for buying land at the proposed site for the FutureGen power plant west of Mattoon begin to expire this month, the alliance and Coles Together will sign agreements to secure the more than 400-acre site near Dole Road, Coles Together President Angela Griffin said Wednesday afternoon.

At the $6.5-million price tag, the cost per acre boils down to approximately $16,250 for 400 acres. The majority of the land is farmland and is owned by the Dole Family Trust; however, two residential parcels, owned by other individuals, also are part of the site, according to a city official.

The Mattoon site was selected by the alliance last December after a comprehensive two-year national selection process, but Department of Energy officials withdrew support for FutureGen in January, citing cost concerns.

The boundaries of the site are Dole Road, the railroad tracks parallel to Ill. Route 121, and county roads 900N, 130E and 800N.

“Some of the land options have to be exercised by next week,” alliance spokesman Lawrence Pacheco said Wednesday. “The price is $6.5 million. FutureGen Alliance will pay $3.5 million, and Coles Together will pay $3 million.

“We are confident and going forward and planning for success,” Pacheco said. “The alliance has always been operating on an August timeline for land acquisition. So when a new administration comes into office we can hit the ground running.

“In Congress we have strong bipartisan support and both presidential candidates have expressed support for carbon capture.”

The agreement between Coles Together and the alliance assures Coles Together that its investment can be recouped should the project, for any reason, be unable to proceed, Griffin said. Several months ago, Coles Together started a private fundraising campaign to help support the alliance in its efforts.

FutureGen Alliance, a group of energy companies from several continents, plans to build a coal-fueled power plant that uses advanced technology to reduce emissions in the air to nearly zero. Carbon dioxide from the process will be pumped more than a mile underground for long-time storage in saline deposits. The carbon dioxide will be liquified and absorbed into the underground deposits.

The land deal, which is due by Aug. 14, would provide a construction site for the power plant and still meet goals set for the energy project long before the Department of Energy pulled financial support.

“This action confirms that the member companies of the alliance are dedicated to staying on track from an operational standpoint while our supporters in Congress continue their work to secure federal funding for FutureGen,” said Griffin.

Mattoon was judged the best site for FutureGen partly due to its geology to accommodate sequestration or underground storage of the carbon dioxide. This process is not new, but FutureGen would be the largest use of the process to date and judged as one way to greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the production of energy.

Proponents said this technology would help cut back on global warming tied to coal usage worldwide once officials share the know-how with China, India and other developing countries.

Griffin noted many local and state supporters of FutureGen have provided resources to maintain momentum for the project. Those efforts were recently visible when the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and the Illinois Clean Coal Review Board provided funds to assist with project and site development at the Mattoon location.

“It is important that this project not lose traction,” said Dave Cline, mayor of Mattoon. “We can’t stop global warming, but we can contain the damage. Building FutureGen allows us to move quickly and decisively in controlling the growth of CO2 emissions.”

State Rep. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, said the land agreement “provides assurance the Mattoon site will be available so FutureGen may swiftly and easily move forward with CO2 capture and storage.”

Rose said, “Anything other than FutureGen will be too little and too late.”

State Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, said sharing FutureGen technology is key in the project development.

“The U. S., and specifically Mattoon, have an opportunity to lead the world in a dramatic and prolonged fashion by hosting FutureGen at this site — a site that has been vetted by the top scientists and engineers in the industry as the most suitable location for this promising technology,” Righter said. “It is our responsibility to secure it and maintain it in its top condition for the eventual construction of this prototype plant.”

Coles Together Board Chair Steve Grissom said going ahead with the land purchase avoids further delay of the FutureGen project.

“Studies show FutureGen has the ability to sequester as much as 2 million tons of carbon per year at the Mattoon site, an amount that gives industry a bona fide chance to learn about the cost, performance, and operating strategies of a fully integrated coal gasification and carbon capture plant,” he said. “Maintaining the integrity of the site assures that effort will not be delayed.”

Contact Herb Meeker at hmeeker@jg-tc.com or 238-6869.

Add your comments

*Member ID:
*Password:
Remember login? (requires cookies)
	Forgot Your Password?

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.

Matt Toon wrote on Aug 7, 2008 9:40 AM:

" The biggest and best news is that the FutureGen people in DC will come up with more than half of the cost of the land. That, in my opinion, is very important because it shows a real dedication to this project. "

The Question wrote on Aug 7, 2008 10:46 AM:

" Yes, throw a few more million down the FutureHole. The FutureGen promoters must be having quite a quiet little laugh at the people of Coles County. Bush kills the project right in front of their eyes, and theyre still eager to be fleeced. "

Harry Potter wrote on Aug 7, 2008 6:09 PM:

" Now where does Coles together get it's funding? Bend over folks. LOL! What do ya think gringa? "

gringa wrote on Aug 7, 2008 7:37 PM:

" Perhaps the most important paragraph in this news item is the following:

The agreement between Coles Together and the alliance assures Coles Together that its investment can be recouped should the project, for any reason, be unable to proceed, Griffin said. Several months ago, Coles Together started a private fundraising campaign to help support the alliance in its efforts.

Can someone please dissect the meaning of these words and tell all of us what they mean? "

291953 wrote on Aug 8, 2008 6:28 AM:

" IT means that you took one sentence out of this story to try to make the story negative. Nice try. This story and the one about Senator Durbin and his efforts show that not everyone gave up the minute that it came out that Bush and his posse are con artists. If you were in school and you tried this tactic in telling the meaning of the story you would probably not get a good grade. "

Julio wrote on Aug 8, 2008 9:18 AM:

" FutureGen? Though we had moved on? Lets put up some wind turbines and solar panels instead of poisoning the earth below us. "

The Question wrote on Aug 8, 2008 11:11 AM:

" "FutureGen? Though we had moved on? Lets put up some wind turbines and solar panels instead of poisoning the earth below us
--------
Do you know what Illinois residents were originally nicknamed? Suckers.
Not much has changed. "

Fat Kenny wrote on Aug 8, 2008 5:19 PM:

" FutureGen is and will be one of the biggest things in Mattoon. All of you that dont understand that dont care about our hometown. And by the way I back wind and solar 100 percent also. "

gringa wrote on Aug 9, 2008 12:40 AM:

" 291953, it was not my intent to try to make this story negative. I'm one of the strongest FutureGen supporters you'll ever find around here! Futuregen is coming, and I'm all for it!

But two things about that quote bothered me. (1) the agreement between Coles Together and the alliance assures Coles Together that its investment can be recouped. It does not say *will be recouped*, it says *can be*. Sounds fishy to me.

And (2) if there was a *private fundraising campaign* several months ago, then why are Coles County taxpayers paying the $3-million? I'd like to know how much money was supposedly raised and I'd like to know the names of the donors and how much each donor gave.

Herb Meeker, don't you think these are good questions deserving a straight answer? The last thing we need to be doing with all information about FutureGen is taking it underground (yeah, a cheap pun, I know). So, now Herb, will you be asking Angela to fill in the blanks here? "

Harry Potter wrote on Aug 9, 2008 8:13 AM:

" Not at all, Fat Kenny. Perhaps opposing a potentially disastrous experimental operation near an elementary school with hundreds of kids in it is showing concern for your hometown. "

291953 wrote on Aug 9, 2008 8:40 AM:

" Gringa, you have my apologies. It seems to me that everyone was in favor of futuregen until in was revealed that we were conned(notice I said "we"). After that, it seems like nobody wanted futuregen and everyone says "oh well" like it didn't bother them.

It bugs me to no end to read this. If you've noticed, I am also a Futuregen supporter and am convinced it WILL be there regardless of what the politicians in Washington say. I retract my last post. "

INVICTA wrote on Aug 9, 2008 9:08 AM:

" Websters Dictionary defines poison as A substance that causes injury or death upon ingestion. Breathing air that contains 10% CO2 causes headaches, confusion and increased respiration. 30% concentrations cause the same more quickly followed by unconsciousness and death. Breathing 100% CO2 would be similar to drowning. Co2 is a heavy gas that displaces oxygen like water filling a swimming pool does. CO2 is what caused the deaths of 1,700 people and 3,500 livestock at Lake Nyos in Cameroon on August 21, 1986 when CO2 wafted into some villages from the lake which sat over a magma chamber. Could a sudden release of CO2 from Carbon Sequestration do the same? "

Old Grumpy wrote on Aug 9, 2008 9:19 AM:

" Since the people of Coles County are now going to pay for FutureGen why not call it ColesGen? If we have to pay an almost equal share just to buy the land what are they (FutureGen officials) going to do with it until someone gives them the rest of the money to build it? Farm ground for $16,000 an acre, wow what type of yeild are they expecting.
If nothing else comes out of this at least the Dole Trust is going to get rich(er).LOL "

INVICTA wrote on Aug 9, 2008 9:35 AM:

" Read about this at http://www.carbonify.com/articles/carbon-sequestration.htm "

The Cleveland Steamer wrote on Aug 9, 2008 10:56 AM:

" What about nuclear power. It seems to me that folks be unjustly scared of it, and that is a cryin' shame if I do say so myself. You know what I mean? I think you do. "

Harry Potter wrote on Aug 9, 2008 5:45 PM:

" Most of the electricity in Europe comes from Nuclear power. Too bad that we have such a paranoia about it.

If that $16,000.00 an acre is true, somebody knows somebody. LOL! "

The Question wrote on Aug 9, 2008 5:47 PM:

" Put away the paddles. The corpse of FutureGen isn't even twitching any more. And the project was killed by George W. Bush, in the Oval Office, with the candlestick. "

Harry Potter wrote on Aug 9, 2008 7:11 PM:

" Sorry to go off topic here, but does anyone know why the local paper doesn't carry the ads for the new drive-in in Charleston? "

gringa wrote on Aug 9, 2008 11:05 PM:

" Thank you, 291953. I appreciate the apology. Don't see that kind of thing happen on here very much. "