FutureGen Hits Another Snag

FutureGen Hits Another Snag

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Two financial backers of the FutureGen coal power plant are withdrawing from the plan. That’s just two weeks after the federal government revived plans to build the experimental coal facility in eastern Illinois.

American Electric Power Company and Southern Company are pulling out of the FutureGen project slated for construction in Mattoon, Illinois. An American Electric spokeswoman says the company is concerned about the project’s costs. It’s the latest hiccup for the experimental project that was previously canceled for a faulty cost analysis.

A FutureGen spokesman says the remaining nine financial backers are talking with potential new partners now.

The plan is for the facilities to burn coal for power but store emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide underground.