May 30, 2008

Congressmen Timothy Johnson (R, Illinois-15), Jerry Costello (D, Illinois-12), and John Shimkus (R, Illinois-19) continue to support the FutureGen project in Mattoon, Illinois. A letter of support was sent last week to the chairman and ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water.

"We write to reiterate our staunch support for $156 million in fiscal year 2009 to be appropriated towards FutureGen activities in Mattoon, Illinois," the letter begins, as the appropriations process continues to move forward in Washington.

The three Illinois Congressmen continue to tout the "five years of hard work" that went into the process and selection of Mattoon as the host site by the FutureGen Alliance. They also promote the fact that "The research done at FutureGen will provide the framework for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology..."

They also still question "DOE's mishandling and mismanagement of this project..."

The letter summarizes with this, "As lawmakers, we have the responsibility and the opportunity to right DOE's wrong. Earlier in the year we both (sic) made Appropriations Requests to you and Chairman Visclosky to fund FutureGen as it was originally scoped. Again, we urge you to provide $156 million for fiscal year 2009 for the FutureGen project in Mattoon, Illinois."