Press Releases
April 9, 2008
Contact: Lawrence Pacheco (202) 715-1555
FutureGen CEO Tells Senate Panel Climate Policy Success Depends on Carbon Capture and Storage Technology
WASHINGTON, D.C. – FutureGen Alliance Chief Executive Officer Michael J. Mudd told a Senate committee today that any climate change legislation Congress approves will depend on large-scale projects with carbon capture and sequestration technology like that which would be used at the FutureGen facility slated for construction at Mattoon, Ill.
"Irrespective of which specific climate policy is ultimately adopted by the Congress, the success of that policy and our economic future will hinge on the availability of affordable, near-zero emission coal technology using carbon capture and sequestration (CCS)," said Mudd. "Given that coal is used to generate more than 50 percent of the electricity in the U.S. and is projected to remain the backbone of the U.S. electricity system and the world for most of this century, CCS is essential to our future energy security and to addressing climate change."
Mudd presented his testimony before the Senate Science, Technology and Innovation Subcommittee during a hearing on coal gasification technologies and the need for large-scale projects to address global climate change. He emphasized that, when operational, FutureGen at Mattoon will capture and permanently store more than 1 million tons of CO2 or 90 percent of its carbon emissions. In addition, the FutureGen Alliance is a nonprofit, public-private enterprise that includes international involvement at an unprecedented level with 13 companies on six continents participating. As a nonprofit, Mudd said the Alliance would be in the position to share information from the project, which will facilitate deployment of commercial, near-zero emission power plants throughout the world.
During his testimony before the subcommittee, Mudd argued that DOE's recent proposal to restructure FutureGen fails to recognize the scale of the energy and climate challenge and would delay CCS technology by several years. He urged the Senators to keep FutureGen at Mattoon moving forward. "DOE's proposal to restructure the FutureGen program will delay technology development and integrated demonstration of commercial scale CCS by five years or more," said Mudd. "There is no program in the world that can move near-zero emission power and CCS further or faster than FutureGen at Mattoon."
View Mudd's full testimony (PDF).
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About the FutureGen Alliance
The FutureGen Alliance, a non-profit organization, represents some of the world's largest coal companies and electric utilities including: American Electric Power, Anglo American, BHP Billiton, the China Huaneng Group, CONSOL Energy Inc., E.ON U.S., Foundation Coal, Luminant, PPL Corporation, Rio Tinto Energy America, Peabody Energy, Southern Company, and Xstrata Coal.. These companies provide energy to tens of millions of residential, business, and industrial customers in North America, Asia, Australia, Europe, Africa and South America. The Alliance is partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy to design and build the facility. Learn more about FutureGen and the Alliance at http://www.FutureGenAlliance.org/.