Back from the Dead—FutureGen Clean Coal Project Approved

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has produced a 25-page document granting approval to the FutureGen clean coal project proposed for Meredosia in western Illinois. The $1.65 billion FutureGen project (with $1 billion in funding from the DOE) will remove carbon dioxide produced during the energy generation process and store it underground.

The project developer, FutureGen Alliance, isn’t completely through the permitting process and must still secure some of the remainder in funding, but construction is expected to commence before the end of the year.

The FutureGen project has been in the works since 2003, when the Bush Administration proposed the project for Mattoon in eastern Illinois, and was thought dead until the Obama Administration launched FutureGen 2.0 and shifted the project to western Illinois. The Sierra Club sued the project in December.

The FutureGen project is an important component of the Obama Administration’s “all of the above” policy for energy infrastructure investment.