Energy futureDOE completes final environmental impact study of FutureGen

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has completed its Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the FutureGen project, a near-zero emissions gasification power plant which, when operational in 2012, would be the first plant in the world to produce both electricity and commercial-grade hydrogen gas from coal while capturing and sequestering greenhouse gas emissions. The EIS evaluated four potential sites to host the project — Mattoon and Tuscola, both in Illionis, and Jewett and Odessa, both in Texas — and preliminarily found that these sites were acceptable locations for funding the FutureGen project. The EIS offers a comprehensive evaluation of potential environmental impacts of the project with respect to the design, construction, and operation of the FutureGen facility. DOE will issue a Record of Decision for this Final EIS no sooner than thirty days after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publishes its Notice of Availability of this Final EIS in the Federal Register. DOE received many public commentd on the Draft EIS issued after it was released on 1 June 2007. DOE conducted public meetings near each of the four alternative sites and reviewed and evaluated all oral and written comments received during the forty-five-day comment period.

The FutureGen project is a partnership between DOE and the FutureGen Industrial Alliance, a nonprofit consortium of some of the largest coal producers and electricity generators in the world. DOE anticipates site selection would be made later this year. FutureGen was announced in 2003. It is a 275 megawatt prototype power plant based on cutting-edge technology. When operational, the plant would remove and sequester carbon dioxide while producing electricity and hydrogen gas, making it the cleanest fossil fuel fired power plant in the world.

-read more at the Web site of the FutureGen Industrial Alliance