Illinois FutureGen Project Sees Daylight Again

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ The Department of Energy is moving forward on a futuristic coal-burning power plant in Illinois that the Bush administration had declared dead.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Friday that reviving the FutureGen plant is an important step that shows the administration's commitment to carbon-capture technology.

"The FutureGen project holds great promise as a flagship facility to demonstrate carbon capture and storage at commercial scale," Chu said in a statement. "Developing this technology is critically important for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. and around the world."

Negotiations for the FutureGen project have been going on since the Obama administration announced it would consider reviving the project. Under President George W. Bush, the project was canceled after cost overruns that a Congressional auditor later said were based on false projections.

U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., called the plant's revival a "historic moment."

"In my time in Congress, I can't recall a project that has greater scientific and practical significance than FutureGen," Durbin said.

The project is slated to be built in Mattoon, Ill. It has been billed as a potential economic engine for a part of Illinois that has been hit hard by the economic slowdown.

The FutureGen plant is designed to burn coal while capturing and burying its carbon dioxide emissions.