FutureGen belongs in Illinois

Our Word
Daily Egyptian

In the 1970s there were 71 operating coalmines in Illinois. Currently, there are only 21 active mines.

Due to stricter environmental regulations, the Illinois coal industry died a slow death, hindering the Southern Illinois economy and putting thousands of people out of work.

Now a new technology, FutureGen, may be able to change the face of the Illinois mining industry if a plant is built in the state.

Last Friday, the House of Representatives gave $9 million toward the $1 billion FutureGen clean coal power plant project. David Gillies, a spokesman for Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Ill., said the money will be used as general planning money to conduct environmental impact studies, fund proposal development and select and evaluate project sites.

Coal mining was a large industry in Southern Illinois until the 1970s, but when researchers discovered a link between coal burning and acid rain, new emissions standards were put in place to reduce the amount of sulfur dioxide released into the atmosphere from coal high in sulfur.

Unfortunately, most Illinois coal, which is usually found in the lower third of the state, is high in sulfur, unlike its competitors' coal in the west. As Congress passed stricter requirements in the mid-80s, mining companies were forced to continually install new technology to keep up with the ever-changing laws. This put a huge hole in the mining companies' budgets, as they were unable to pass the costs off to the customers.

One after another, coalmines closed for a decade, leading up to the biggest blow to the industry at that time. The Clean Air Act of 1990 raised emissions standards from coal burning to a level so high many Illinois mining companies could not compete and still stay in the black.

The loss of these mines hurt the U.S. economy and, more importantly for us, the Southern Illinois economy.

Much of Illinois' electricity was taken from coal. By the time the Clean Air Act had passed, power plants across the state were importing coal from the West because it had less sulfur. This meant less money had to be spent on turning the low sulfur coal into energy.

Now FutureGen may give Illinois coal miners a reason to smile after decades of unemployment. FutureGen is an emission-free, coal-fired electric and hydrogen production plant. This plant would enable coal high in sulfur, such as Illinois coal, to be burned by forcing the emissions into geologic formations that allow the substances to be controlled safely and efficiently. Southern Illinois has deep saline aquifers that can permanently - and safely - retain sulfur dioxide. FutureGen is a part of a government/industry partnership to increase coal as a major energy provider. This has never been attempted before.

According to John Mead, director of the SIU Coal Research Center, Illinois has a large amount of unused coal. It also takes less energy to burn coal found in Illinois rather than the low sulfur coal found in places such as Wyoming, which also has a very large reserve.

Not only will FutureGen be able to safely produce energy from coal, but it will also be able to transfer energy from the hydrogen captured from coal, also known as coal gasification.

Although the location for the FutureGen project won!=t be determined until next year, Costello and Fitzgerald believe Southern Illinois is the perfect place for the FutureGen plant.

We agree FutureGen should be located in Southern Illinois because there is an abundance of coal with characteristics perfect for the FutureGen project. It has a deep saline aquifer that is perfect for sequestering sulfur dioxide and it is the home of the Coal Research Center.

The Coal Research Center is critical to FutureGen because the center has already been pivotal in the production of hydrogen from coal as well as improvements in coal gasification, both of which are major components of FutureGen.

The center was founded in 1974 and has provided research opportunities for faculty and graduate students at SIUC. The center also operates a Coal Development Park near Carterville, where much of the research takes place. FutureGen would also be a great outlet for research for the University, which is one more step toward achieving Southern at 150.

On a grander scale, FutureGen would revitalize the depressed Southern Illinois economy and the state and national coal industry. In the 1970s and 1980s, Illinois produced 60 million tons per year. Currently, Illinois only exports 40 million tons a year.

Besides providing jobs for miners, the construction industry would be able to dip into the benefits of FutureGen as well for construction of the plant. The energy from the hydrogen would even help the oil production industry.

Mead also said that if the demonstration proves it will have a bigger effect on the national mining industry, it will lead to other commercial projects around the country, particularly in the Midwest.

FutureGen belongs in Southern Illinois most importantly because we would benefit from it the most over any other region in the United States. This would be only the first step - an expensive step - in a long journey to get the Illinois coal industry back on track, but any amount of money should be worth putting forth for an industry that has so much to offer.

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