Representatives from FutureGen and Coles Together met with residents at a luncheon yesterday to discuss plans for Mattoon’s zero-emissions fossil fuel plant.

Jerry Oliver, senior vice president for project development, and Roger Gilchrist, department project director, were both on hand from FutureGen.

Oliver and Gilchrest praised the Mattoon community for its support and enthusiasm, adding that their city was chosen because it was worthy.

“You guys won on the merits of the site,” Oliver said. “There were no politics involved.”

Oliver said the plant is moving along “very nicely” from a design standpoint, and the company is currently working on procuring the 420-acre land site.

Though the plant hasn’t been approved by the Department of Energy, Gilchrist said that the funding is there to get the land purchased.

In the event the FutureGen project was not approved, Oliver said that the land would still be a good investment. He estimated its value at $7,000 an acre.

The plant would create more than a thousand new construction jobs once building commences. Gilchrist said FutureGen would look to local business to help supply them with resources such as copiers, fencing, and laborers.

“We don’t want to go much further than we have to, to get anything,” Gilchrist said.

FutureGen hopes to set up an office in Mattoon to handle such negotiations.

Oliver said the plant would likely bring new research and development to Mattoon, thus encouraging more individuals to attend college and be well suited for employment.

Gilchrist said the plant has generated, and will continue to generate, interest in the city.

“The world knows about Mattoon, Illinois, that’s for sure,” Gilchrist said.

Gilchrist said the project has the potential to serve as an example, and prove that it is possible to produce near zero carbon dioxide emissions.

“This project represents the chance to do something no one has ever done, and that’s protect the future for our children,” Gilchrist said.

As the enticement package for FutureGen included a commitment by Coles Together to cover $3 million in early expenses, the group is currently looking to the community for continued support.

Steve Grissom, Board Chairman at Coles Together, publicly acknowledged Max Cougill and Gene Baur, founding members of the organization, who each pledged $50,000 to the FutureGen project.

Cougill called his contribution “an investment in the future generation.”

FutureGen will use coal gasification, which converts coal into hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Using the hydrogen created, the turbine will be powered, thus creating electricity. A second turbine would create electricity from the steam from the first turbine.

The plant will capture and store 90 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions in the deep geological reservoirs more than one mile underground in the Mt. Simon Sandstone reservoir.

Creating 175 megawatts of electricity, the plant will be able to provide electricity to 150,000 homes.

The new plant is to be located in the northwest part of Mattoon at the intersection of Dole Road and Illinois Route 121 and will cost an estimated $1.5 billion to build.

Construction is scheduled to begin in 2009, with the plant starting operations starting at the end of 2012.

Rob Siebert may be reached at 581-7945 or at rjsiebert@eiu.edu.