Department of Energy Faces Push Back After Cancelling FutureGen

Originally proposed by President Bush, FutureGen was supposed to be the world’s first clean-coal powered plant.

Several states competed for the project and Illinois won - but now the state is losing what’s left of the billion dollar appropriation because of missed deadlines and not enough private investment

Phil Gonet is the President of the Illinois Coal Association is frustrated about the situation and says Illinois could have been the center of clean coal research.

Gonet says two pending lawsuits made private money hard to come by.

Cognressman Rodney Davis and John Shimkus have issued statements criticizing the Obama administration for the decision on FutureGen. 

Davis says it's "failed the people of Central Illinois" by wasting hundreds of millions of dollars invested by taxpayers and the private sector.

Shimkus calls it "incomprehensible" that the administration is requiring coal plants to use carbon capture and sequestration while pulling the plug on a plant desinged to demonstrate the technology at the same time. 

The U-S Department of Energy says the decision to close out early is in the best interest of taxpayers.