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State coal projects hampered
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Mike Riopell
mike.riopell@lee.net

SPRINGFIELD — Illinois needs a lot of electricity.

The state also has a lot of coal to burn.

Nevertheless, building a coal power plant in Illinois has proven difficult over the last several years as increasing pollution controls and ballooning construction budgets have hampered several projects across the state.

In Taylorville, a massive project is on hold awaiting hard-to-find support from state lawmakers.

In Mattoon, the federal government decided to all but scrap an experimental coal plant there that would have pumped pollution underground.

And in Will County, a Joliet-area coal plant has been abandoned.

Those developments continue to frustrate the state’s coal industry. Illinois is rich in coal reserves, but the heavy-polluting fuel has fallen out of favor at a time when environmental controls are strict.

The Taylorville and Mattoon projects both sought to burn coal more cleanly, but at least in the case of the proposed Taylorville Energy Center, lawmakers’ skepticism of the new technology played at least some role in the project being continuously stalled.

“But you’ve got to do something,” said Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson, R-Greenville. “It’s got to go somewhere.“

Local projects stalled

“Somewhere” was thought to be east-central Illinois’ Mattoon for a while, after the President Bush-inspired FutureGen program was slated to be built there earlier this year. But amid rising construction costs, the federal government pulled its support.

The state coal industry saw the project as a way to start using Illinois’ vast amounts of coal, but the project is at least delayed now.

Illinois Coal Association President Phil Gonet said that the industry could stall until FutureGen-style technology — where harmful carbon dioxide is stored underground — is ironed out.

“What’s going to happen with carbon capture and storage?” he said.

The $2.5 billion Taylorville Energy Center project proposed by Nebraska-based Tenaska would use different technology but also fit the “clean coal” label. The developers have said they need help from lawmakers to get financing for the massive project.

But after more than a year of asking, they haven’t yet succeeded.

Tenaska Vice President Barton Ford said the company previously specialized in plants that make electricity from natural gas, which are “easier to do in general.”

Because of the delays, Ford says Tenaska has considered moving the Taylorville project out of Illinois. He said the company originally chose the state because of the amount of coal underground would lead to a political atmosphere that would support the project.

“If Illinois isn’t willing to do it … who at the state level is going to be willing to do it?” he said.

Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opporunity spokeswoman Marcelyn Love said the interest exists.

“Illinois has had more genuine interest from clean-coal project developers than any other state,” she said.

Besides the Taylorville project, Tenaska company is starting to develop a $3 billion coal plant in Texas. Both have proven complicated, but Ford said the company has focused on coal for a reason.

“Because it’s the future,” he said.

Some successes

Coal is the future for some in Washington County, where a major Peabody Energy Inc. plant is under construction after years of planning.

And a smaller-scale coal project is nearing development for Decatur. Secure Energy Inc. is working to build a $550 million plant that converts coal to natural gas for sale.

Lars Scott, founder of the St. Louis-based firm, says the company was formed to focus on coal gasification plants because it’s “more straightforward” than trying to develop ones that generate electricity.

The Decatur plant had been under contract to get its coal from a mine in Elkhart. That contract has run out, but could be renewed, Scott said.

Secure Energy is trying to get financing now, and could be helped by a $14 million state grant.

“It’s not done until it’s done,” Scott said.

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