Friday, June 26, 2009 10:20 PM CDT
FutureGen supporters undaunted by alliance's loss of 2 firms
By HERB MEEKER, Staff Writer
hmeeker@jg-tc.com
MATTOON — Local supporters of the FutureGen power plant project are not discouraged that two members are leaving the FutureGen Alliance.
“We are not concerned at all with the remix in the alliance membership,” said Coles Together President Angela Griffin. “Priorities for stockholders shift and companies have to be responsive to them, particularly when there are only so many research dollars to go around.”
She said projects being pursued by the companies exiting FutureGen also involve carbon capture programs and their work complements FutureGen.
“The remaining partners, including CEO Mike Mudd, who previously worked at (one of the utilities leaving the alliance), are committed and we look forward to building FutureGen with them and anyone else that comes into the fold now that the Obama administration has
signaled its support of FutureGen,” said Griffin.
FutureGen Alliance spokesman Lawrence Pacheco said Mudd will remain as CEO of the alliance even though he once worked for American Electric Power Co. of Columbus, Ohio, as manager of generation technologies for the Ohio-based company. Mudd has 30 years of experience in the utility industry and an engineering degree.
“As CEO of FutureGen, he is independent of that company,” said Pacheco.
The announcement by AEP and Southern Co. of Atlanta was not a surprise, Pacheco said. The companies decided to withdraw as partners about two weeks ago or about the time of the June 12 announcement by DOE to recommit funding to FutureGen at Mattoon.
The other two firms that dropped out of the group decided to leave the alliance months ago, he added. The alliance seeks to increase its membership to 20 in coming months to provide its share of the costs for building the power plant west of Mattoon.
On Tuesday, Griffin said Ameren of St. Louis could be a potential partner for FutureGen Alliance, but Pacheco said he could not confirm that.
He said FutureGen Alliance has been recruiting potential partners on a regular basis.
“One of the goals of the alliance is to build its membership through ongoing recruitment. There are a number of strategies the alliance is pursuing to do so,” he said.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin also took Thursday’s departures in stride.
“Since the Bush administration canceled the project a year and a half ago, the world and the economy have changed dramatically — so has the alliance,” Durbin said. “The alliance has lost and added new partners several times since it was first formed and as the project evolves over the next six months, I believe the FutureGen alliance will continue to grow in membership, in strength and in their partnership with the DOE.”
Pacheco said the alliance board of directors could return to Mattoon for another meeting. The board held a meeting soon after the DOE withdrew support for the energy project in January 2008. The visit helped assure local supporters of FutureGen that the alliance was committed to the Mattoon site, officials said.
Contact Herb Meeker at hmeeker@jg-tc.com or 238-6869.
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