[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 23]
[Senate]
[Pages 31580-31581]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      SITING FUTUREGEN IN ILLINOIS

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, we are nearing an important milestone in 
the development of an ambitious project to develop new, environmentally 
friendly ways of using coal. FutureGen is a joint venture between the 
Department of Energy and an international, non-profit consortium of 
coal producers and energy generators. The FutureGen project will 
explore the viability of capturing and sequestering carbon dioxide an 
unwanted by-product of coal use.
  The plan is to begin facility construction for the project in 2010, 
with full-scale operation beginning in 2013. The plant will generate 
approximately 275 megawatts of electricity, which is enough to supply 
150,000 homes.
  The key to the FutureGen project, of course, is siting it at a 
location that can best meet the project's goals for carbon capture and 
sequestration. Right now four sites are under consideration, including 
Mattoon and Tuscola, IL. Those sites are ideally suited for this 
project. Illinois is coal country. Our State has 38 billion tons of 
recoverable bituminous coal reserves, the largest in the Nation. That's 
one-eighth of the total U.S. coal reserves, representing more energy 
than the oil reserves of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait combined.
  The Illinois sites have an abundant and reliable supply of water. The 
deep, thick, undisturbed sandstone reservoirs of southern Illinois are 
well suited for carbon sequestration. Unlike the other sites being 
considered for FutureGen, Illinois shares geological features with 
other states likely to build new coal plants capable of carbon capture 
and sequestration. The experience gained, then, by siting this project 
in Illinois will be key to extending the technology to new coal-fired 
plants built in the U.S.
  Other States recognize the merits of the Illinois FutureGen 
proposals. Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin have each 
declared support for the Illinois sites, based on their superior 
geology and infrastructure compared to competing sites.
  A decision on where to site the FutureGen project is around the 
corner, and it can't come too soon. Global warming is already marring 
the Earth. Global average surface temperatures are rising at an 
alarming rate. Cold days are fewer, and heat waves are more common. 
Mountain glaciers and ice caps are melting. The global average sea 
level is rising. Coastal regions are threatened. It is no exaggeration 
to say that global climate change is the most threatening environmental 
disaster we face.
  Through it all, the world's top scientists have clearly advised that 
manmade greenhouse gases that trap the Sun's heat are a significant 
factor in this shift in the global climate. Of those greenhouse gases, 
carbon dioxide is by far the most important. Because of our reliance on 
fossil fuels for heating, power, and transportation, carbon dioxide 
levels in the atmosphere today are far greater than any seen in 650,000 
years. And those levels are only growing.
  In fact, the growth rate of carbon dioxide concentrations over the 
past 10 years is greater than at any point since we have been taking 
measurements. The problem will only grow worse as China, India, and 
others work to catch up economically to more developed countries. Much 
of that economic growth will be fueled by coal-fired powerplants.
  The world is looking to the United States for leadership in finding 
solutions to carbon dioxide emissions. The U.S. Climate Change Science 
Program this week reported that the United States was responsible for 
23 percent of the world's carbon dioxide emissions in 2003 that is more 
than 1.5 trillion metric tons.
  Unless we stand up and face this problem head on, it is unimaginable 
that developing countries will be serious about curbing their 
emissions. And where does that carbon dioxide come from? Well, almost 
40 percent comes from the combustion of coal for electricity.
  Coal represents just about half of America's electricity production. 
It isn't going away anytime soon, especially as energy demands grow in 
the U.S. and the world. How can we balance these needs, then, for 
affordable, abundant energy supply and stewardship of the earth's 
environment? Technology may hold part of the solution. Carbon capture 
and sequestration is one possible option; it is a way to extract carbon 
dioxide from combustion

[[Page 31581]]

gases and pump it underground for long-term storage to keep it out of 
the atmosphere. There is great potential for such technology in the 
United States, but it has not been demonstrated in a full, integrated 
facility.
  That's where the FutureGen program comes in. In Illinois, we eagerly 
await word of the project's location. And we look forward to working 
with the Department of Energy and the private sector partners to 
explore the potential of this promising new technology.
  As the world faces the interconnected prospects of economic expansion 
and devastating environmental catastrophe, we must search for 
technological options that will help lead us to a sustainable future. 
One promising possibility is the use of underground carbon 
sequestration to keep carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere while 
employing America's most abundant energy source: coal. FutureGen is a 
key step to testing that technology, and I am proud that Illinois is in 
a position to show America's responsible leadership to the world.

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