There's a lot of news today about the experimental FutureGen coal power plant being placed in Mattoon. Some managers of local media outlets serve on the FutureGen Illinois Task Force and most media coverage thus far has taken a one sided view without asking critical questions about the project.
Researching clean coal technology is a good idea. What deserves more discussion is how much taxpayers should subsidize that research for profitable coal companies and whether that should be a higher priority than developing truly clean, renewable resources such as wind, solar and energy efficiency projects.
I'm hearing a lot of hype about this plant reviving the coal economy in Illinois. That's the empty promise made by every pandering, short-sighted politician who campaigns in the Southern part of the state. Let's bring things back down to earth by keeping two things in mind.
First, new mining technologies mean you can do the same work with fewer miners in less time. That alone means Southern Illinois will never have the large base of coal mining jobs it had decades ago even in the unlikely event that use of coal increases.
Second, even if FutureGen works (and there are no guarantees of that) it will take many more years and billions of dollars to update current plants or build new ones around the country. It will be 25 years or more before we see the realization of the big promises FutureGen promoters are making about revitalizing the Southern Illinois coal industry. I don't think the reality of this project's economic benefits will ever live up to the hype.
Capitol Fax links one of the few radio stories that looks at this beyond the FutureGen press releases. Its a good story despite the head of the Illinois Coal Association making the ridiculous argument that coal is the only option for affordable energy in the future.
Also, the State Journal-Register has an item in late breaking news that I'm sure will have a new link for the full story tomorrow. The SJ-R is once again one of the few news outlets to examine some of the issue beyond the hype. I knew that FutureGen is being heavily subsidized by state, local and federal governments but I didn't realize that the Department of Energy is picking up 75% of the costs of a project designed to help profitable companies in the coal industry like Peabody and ExxonMobil.
A side note about this project is the plan to make a clean fuel technology dependent on dirty fossil fuels. When George Bush touted hydrogen cars as the clean fuel technology of the future in the State of the Union address a few years ago he didn't mention that his plan was to derive the hydrogen from coal. FutureGen will do research to make that possible. Leave it to George Bush to figure out a way to use a clean fuel technology as another way to subsidize the fossil fuel industries.
If people in Southern Illinois want to revive their economy its time to stop tying their future to the fate of the coal industry.
There are many ways to create new jobs as we move to a clean energy economy. Why aren't political leaders trying to attract a factory to build wind turbines so that we don't have to ship them here from Europe and elsewhere? Why not a factory to build solar panels and all the jobs associated with installing them? Thousands of jobs could be created implementing energy efficiency and conservation projects if the state and federal government made that a funding priority instead of spending billions in subsidies to the coal industry.
I hope the research at FutureGen results in something positive and I hope nothing happens that will cost the state millions of dollars because it assumed liability for the project. But I'm skeptical about the hype and I know we can't sit on our hands doing nothing about climate change while we wait to see if this experiment produces results. We're making a mistake if we let the coal industry use its political power and campaign contributions to set our clean energy policy for us.