The FutureGen Alliance announced Nov. 4 that it has officially returned 440 acres of land to Coles County.

Also returning would be the subsurface storage rights it had acquired to build the original FutureGen power plant and carbon dioxide storage site in Mattoon.

Previously, the FutureGen Alliance pledged to return the ownership of the land to Coles Together if the facility was not built in Mattoon.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced in August its plans to refocus FutureGen.

The deadline for the communities to express their interest in participating in the refocused effort passed Nov. 3.

A total of nine communities were in support of the new project; Mattoon was not one of them.

FutureGen Alliance Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Humphreys released a statement regarding the progress of the FutureGen.

“As we move forward with the refocused project, we have an exceptional portfolio of sites from which to choose. Mattoon has chosen an alternative approach to develop their site commercially, and we fully respect that decision,” he said.

Humphreys also said he would recommend the site for commercial energy project developers as he said they had increased the value of the location.

“Coles County has a valuable asset and the site is ready-made for another project. It has excellent geology for safely storing carbon dioxide emissions underground. It will be a great site (for) future commercial development and the Mattoon community will be phenomenal partners for those who ultimately choose to develop the site further,” he said.

During the time of the original FutureGen project, Coles Together and Mattoon put together a real estate package to accommodate the construction of a 275MW clean coal power plant and the subsurface storage of the carbon dioxide it would emit.

An estimated tens of millions of dollars were spent to survey, engineer, study, characterize and analyze the sites features and the project’s impact it would have on the environment.

FutureGen then purchased the site with support from local businesses and citizens.

But when unexpected changes to the project were announced with FutureGen 2.0, the decision was made to request the site be returned to the community.

According to Angela Griffin, president of Coles Together, the site provides opportunities for development of similar projects.

“Having the site in our possession, along with the information assembled for the years’ of study will allow us to swiftly and easily move forward with a project as revolutionary and forward-looking as the original FutureGen 2.0,” Griffin said.

Griffin does not reject the value of FutureGen 2.0.

“Quite the contrary,” Griffin said. “The FutureGen program continues to be an important initiative in advancing clean coal technology to address the challenges of climate change, national security and the economy. We believe 2.0 should move forward and Illinois is the best place for that to happen. Additionally, the FutureGen Alliance similarly highly regarded wherever they land in Illinois.”

Mayor John Inyart, Chairman of the Board of Coles Together, said the organization has been busy showing the site to companies interested in developing projects similar to the original FutureGen project.

“Now that the land is in our procession, attracting a new project will be less complicated,” Inyart said.

This has been great for FutureGen.

“We have handful of serious leads,” said Griffin. “Each of which could bring meaningful employment and economic development to the community. While we lament the loss in FutureGen, we believe the opportunities that have surfaced as a result of the work at the site, and our exposure across many industries will prove to be beneficial.”

Inyart said he believes that the support of the community was a successful recruitment for the FutureGen project and knows it will help in the development of new economic projects at the site.

“All of the FutureGen milestones were reached with the support of the community,” Inyart said. “Particularly when businesses and individuals donated to help complete the land purchase. We realize donations were made to support FutureGen, and it is important to understand each donor’s intentions as we move forward.”

However, Inyart said many donors have already expressed their desire for the fund to be used to recruit economic developments projects to the county.

Allison Twaits can be reached at 581-7942 or altwaits@eiu.edu.