[dvs] Feds cancel 'clean coal' experimental plant in Illinois... BUT...

[WJ Marston LEED AP]

Secy of Energy Bodman says that the fed agency had warned against  
making an announcement until more analysis had been completed, but  
FutureGen did so anyway last month.

And sure enough the DOE did more analysis and pulled out its support  
for the project. As you'll read in the article, DOE claims to have  
cancelled it based on dramatically increased construction costs  
(federal share increased from $800million to over $1billion between  
2003-2007). But the secretary is also quoted as saying it "remains  
committed to FutureGen's objectives to advance the availability and  
use of clean-coal technology to meet growing demand and reduce  
greenhouse gas emissions."

arghh...

When will it sink in that there are numerous other ways - quicker,  
cheaper, distributed across the nation rather than all in one or two  
massive projects, and net effective too - to reduce GHG from energy  
production?? Gee... even a grade-school kid can understand it, so why  
can't big biz see the opportunities in distributed energy and energy- 
efficiency & conservation?
When will the biggies get on board with the wedge strategies of  
Socolow, measure cost-benefit against the criteria in the Stern  
Review, and accept even a little "real world" responsibility for  
their actions?

Ah, well. La dee dah... la dee dah.

	Bill Marston  << wondering what Ted Nordhaus would say ...
_______________
<http://ap.google.com/article/ 
ALeqM5iCFTuK5STUkpm1mpKAURDVplMtVQD8UFQJGG0>

FEDs TO CANCEL 'CLEAN COAL' DEMONSTRATION PLANT
Feds Cite Huge Price Tag

The U.S. Department of Energy plans to pull its support of a $1.8  
billion project to build an experimental coal-fired power plant, due  
to ballooning costs. The plant's carbon capture and storage  
technology has yet to be proven on a large, cost-effective scale.

For more information see the following articles:
News.com, Associated Press

There are much better, and cheaper, ways to solve global warming.  
Watch the Face It webcast <http://www.architecture2030.org/faceit/ 
webcast.php> to learn how.
_________

<http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jan2008/2008-01-31-03.asp>

Energy Secretary Scraps FutureGen Clean Coal Project
WASHINGTON, DC, January 31, 2008 (ENS) - Energy Secretary Samuel  
Bodman sent America's clean coal program back to square one Wednesday  
when he tossed out the FutureGen low emissions coal gasification  
plant that the Bush administration has supported for the past five  
years.

FutureGen is a public-private partnership between the U.S. Energy  
Department and the FutureGen Industrial Alliance, Inc, a non-profit  
consortium of 12 American and international energy companies.

The site at Mattoon, Illinois, selected after a hard-fought battle  
with two sites in Texas and another in Illinois, was scrapped, and  
Bodman said the FutureGen Alliance will have to compete all over  
again with other commercial power companies and consortia.

The announcement raised howls of protest from the Illinois  
congressional delegation. Half the delegation declared in a letter to  
President George W. Bush Wednesday that they "have lost confidence in  
Secretary Bodman."

"We feel that the Secretary misled us and the people of Illinois,  
creating false hope in a FutureGen project which he had no intention  
of funding or supporting," they told the president.

"We are writing today to urge you to keep FutureGen on track, so that  
this project can begin construction and become a reality," wrote the  
Illinois elected officials, including Senators Dick Durbin and Barack  
Obama, both Democrats, and Democratic Representatives Jerry Costello,  
Danny Davis, Rahm Emanuel, Phil Hare, and Jan Schakowsky, and  
Republicans Tim Johnson, Ray LaHood, and Peter Roskam.

Bodman said he now favors "a restructured approach to its FutureGen  
project that aims to demonstrate cutting-edge carbon capture and  
storage, CCS, technology at multiple commercial-scale Integrated  
Gasification Combined Cycle, IGCC, clean coal power plants."

"Under this strategy," Bodman said, "the U.S. Department of Energy,  
DOE, will join industry in its efforts to build IGCC plants by  
providing funding for the addition of CCS technology to multiple  
plants that will be operational by 2015."

"This approach builds on technological research and development  
advancements in IGCC and CCS technology achieved over the past five  
years and is expected to at least double the amount of carbon dioxide  
sequestered compared to the concept announced in 2003," Bodman said.

"The FutureGen concept announced in 2003 planned the creation of a  
near-zero emissions, 275 MW power plant that produced hydrogen and  
electricity from coal on a smaller-than-commercial-scale, serving as  
a laboratory for technology development," said Bodman.

The FutureGen Alliance today said Bodman's assertions were untrue.  
"The Mattoon site and FutureGen, as currently configured, can  
sequester approximately two million tons per year. The environmental  
impact statement considered as much as 2.5 million tons," said the  
Alliance.

"FutureGen is commercial scale," the Alliance said. "The facility  
will be built around a commercial-scale gasifier and commercial-scale  
frame 7 turbine."

In annoucing the restructuring, Bodman raised the issue of government  
funding for FutureGen. "Under this plan, DOE’s investment would  
provide funding for no more than the CCS component of the power plant  
- not the entire plant construction, compared with the FutureGen  
concept announced in 2003 where the federal government would incur 74  
percent of rising costs."

Again, the FutureGen Alliance disagrees with Bodman.
"Project costs have increased, but DOE's share has not doubled - not  
even close. When President Bush first announced FutureGen, the DOE  
share was $800M. DOE's current estimated share is $1.1B with the  
increase due to inflation," the Alliance said today.

"The Alliance has offered to provide DOE with partial-to-full  
repayment to ease the final cost to the taxpayer. The costs are  
manageable," the Alliance said.

"Alliance member contributions, thus far, have been cash donations.  
The Alliance has told DOE that it still expects a majority of its  
contributions will come from cash donations. Proposed financing is  
small relative to traditional projects. The Alliance includes some of  
the world's largest companies; DOE's notion that they might default  
is nonsense. The Alliance has fulfilled all its responsibilities thus  
far," the consortium said.

On Wednesday, FutureGen Alliance chief executive Michael Mudd said,  
"The Alliance remains committed to keeping FutureGen on track."

In their letter to President Bush, the Illinois congressional  
delegation too challenged the energy secretary's statement that  
funding concerns are behind the withdrawal of support for FutureGen.

"When the Secretary was assured that we were prepared to provide  
adequate funding and to resolve any other outstanding issues between  
the Administration and the FutureGen Alliance if he would take steps  
to move FutureGen forward, he unequivocally refused. Given that, it  
is hard to believe that cost concerns constitute his real objection  
to this project," the letter states.

"Many have argued that this abrupt about face by Secretary Bodman was  
the direct result of the FutureGen Alliance choosing Mattoon,  
Illinois as the site, over Texas applicants," the congressional  
delegation wrote. "While we'd like not to believe this theory, there  
is no other plausible explanation."

The president has not yet commented on the FutureGen controversy.

The Energy Department today issued a Request for Information that  
seeks industry’s input by March 3, 2008, on the costs and feasibility  
associated with building clean coal facilities that achieve the  
intended goals of FutureGen.

Bodman said the president's Fiscal Year 2009 budget requests $407  
million for coal research, including development of more efficient  
gasification and turbine technologies, innovations for existing coal  
power plants, and large-scale CCS injection tests, and $241 million  
to demonstrate technologies for cost-effective carbon capture and  
storage for coal-fired power plants, including $156 million for the  
restructured FutureGen approach and $85 million for DOE’s Clean Coal  
Power Initiative.

"This $648 million request represents a $129 million increase from  
the president’s FY2008 request and is the largest amount requested  
for DOE’s coal program in more than 25 years," said the energy  
secretary.

The FutureGen Alliance, a non-profit organization, represents some of  
the world's largest coal companies and electric utilities including:  
American Electric Power, Anglo American, BHP Billiton, the China  
Huaneng Group, CONSOL Energy Inc., E.ON U.S., Foundation Coal,  
Luminant, PPL Corporation, Rio Tinto Energy America, Peabody Energy,  
Southern Company, and Xstrata Coal.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2008. All rights reserved.
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