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Roundtable discussion promotes FutureGen prototype in Southern Illinois
Twenty-five panelists gathered in the Student Center on Tuesday to encourage efforts to make Southern Illinois the site for a $1 billion project. The suggested project, known as FutureGen, would be the world's first coal-fired, zero emissions, hydrogen-producing power plant.
The proposal is in response to several presidential initiatives to preserve the global environment and find more economical sources of energy production.
The U.S Department of Energy will cover a maximum of 80 percent of project costs while the industry will absorb a minimum of 20 percent.
More than 200 guests from the University and Southern Illinois region attended the roundtable, which was sponsored by U.S. congressman Jerry Costello, D-Belleville. The discussion covered the reasons why Illinois should be the elected site and the benefits such a project would bring to the region.
Among many associations represented on the panel were the Illinois General Assembly, the United Mine Workers of America, the Illinois Coal Association and Peabody Energy.
"The aim of today's meeting is to have everyone walk away with a better understanding of what this initiative is all about and to convince Dr. Miller that Southern Illinois is the place for FutureGen," Costello said.
C. Lowell Miller, the director of the Office of Coal Fuels and Industrial Systems at the U.S. Department of Energy, gave a presentation during the roundtable discussion. He explained why using coal as a new source of hydrogen production is not only economical, but also environmentally necessary.
" Right now 99 percent of U.S. hydrogen comes from natural gas, which continues to cost a great deal of money," Miller said. "We are also constantly dependent upon others for fuel.
"The FutureGen prototype will allow us to have a low-cost energy production option that allows for sequestration, a process that would stabilize the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere."
He also said that using coal as an energy resource made sense because it is the most abundant fossil fuel in the U.S., which currently has a national supply that is approximately 250 years worth of fuel.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Springfield, and State Rep. Dan Reitz, D-Steeleville, stressed the positive impact the project would have on the region.
"While the Clean Air Act of 1990 was inevitable, coal was king for Southern Illinois," Durbin said. "Back then mining was a secure job and an important facet of our local economy. If we can show that coal can be used in an environmentally responsible way we can bring those jobs back to Southern Illinois."
"We are in need of a marriage between the coal industry and the electric industry," Reitz said. "And FutureGen is just the thing to invite an environmental element into the process. Building a $1.1 million plant means more jobs, especially in construction."
SIUC Chancellor Walter Wendler pointed out specific benefits for the University.
"The changing future of coal research can improve our research and graduate programs here at SIU," Wendler said, "especially with the potential enhancement of our local economy."
Costello and his supporters believe Illinois to be the ideal site choice despite the fact that the initiative is currently open to the entire U.S. In the state's favor is the fact that Illinois' recoverable coal reserves amount to more than 1 billion tons. The Illinois coal industry alone produces 35 million tons and generates more than $30 billion in gross revenues.
If results from the prototype project are positive, Miller said he anticipates commercial readiness by 2020.
