FutureGen gets key Energy Department approval

MEREDOSIA (AP) — The U.S. Department of Energy has given the long-running FutureGen clean-coal project one of the final OKs it needs to start building.

The Energy Department on Thursday issued its 25-page approval of the $1.65 billion plan that wouldd refit a coal-fired power plant in Meredosia in western Illinois. The project would remove carbon dioxide from the coal and store it underground. The greenhouse gas is linked to climate change.

Ken Humphreys, CEO of FutureGen Alliance, says the project still needs a permit to store the gas and to close financially. But he expects construction to begin this year.

The alliance is mainly a group of coal companies.

FutureGen was first proposed in 2003 by the Bush administration. Initially it would have been built in eastern Illinois.