Western Illinois Site Gets FutureGen Storage Facility

Developers of the FutureGen project have chosen Morgan County in western Illinois as an underground storage site for carbon dioxide generated by a nearby power plant they plan to refit with experimental low-emissions coal technology.

The FutureGen Alliance told The Associated Press on Monday that it picked Morgan County over sites in Christian, Douglas and Fayette counties. Project planners say the sequestration site will mean more than 1,000 short-term jobs and a few dozen permanent ones.

Carbon dioxide is linked to climate change. CO2 generated at the plant in Meredosia, which is in Morgan County, would be moved to the site through a pipeline that would be built. The current project was announced last year after the Energy Department scrapped plans to build a new experimental plant in Mattoon.