2 backers drop FutureGen affiliation
CHAMPAIGN, ILL. — Just two weeks after the federal government revived plans to build the FutureGen power plant in eastern Illinois, two of the experimental coal plant’s financial backers said Thursday they are withdrawing.
The exit of American Electric Power Co. and Southern Co. leaves the nine power and coal companies that are still part of what’s known as the FutureGen Alliance searching for new partners to help cover costs they expect to reach $2.4 billion.
The Department of Energy said June 12 that it would provide just more than a billion dollars in stimulus money as it agreed to restart the project, aimed at proving that the pollutant carbon dioxide can be removed from coal and safely stored payday loans.
At one time, 13 companies were involved. Peabody Energy Corp., Consol Energy Inc. and the others decided in late 2007 to build the plant in Mattoon, Ill. The Department of Energy shelved the project weeks later over cost overruns that later proved to be inaccurate.