HR0189 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0189 LRB099 10690 MST 31082 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The Illinois General Assembly has previously established the Clean Coal FutureGen for Illinois Act of 2011, recognizing that the FutureGen Project is a first-of-its-kind research project to permanently sequester underground captured CO2 emissions from: (1) a coal-fueled power plant that uses as its primary fuel source high-volatile bituminous rank coal with greater than 1.7 pounds of sulfur per million btu content; or (2) other approved and permitted captured CO2 sources in the State of Illinois; and

WHEREAS, The FutureGen Project would have benefits to the economy and environment of Illinois; and

WHEREAS, The State is committed to: (1) providing the non-profit FutureGen Alliance with adequate liability protection and permitting certainty to facilitate the siting of the FutureGen Project in the State of Illinois; (2) providing the State of Illinois certain financial benefits from environmental attributes for the project; and (3) helping secure over $1 billion in federal funding for the project; and

WHEREAS, The General Assembly found and determined that: (1) human-induced greenhouse gas emissions have been identified as contributing to global warming, the effects of which pose a threat to public health and safety and the economy of the State of Illinois; (2) in order to meet the energy needs of the State of Illinois, keep its economy strong and protect the environment while reducing its contribution to human-induced greenhouse gas emissions, the State of Illinois must be a leader in developing new low-carbon technologies; (3) carbon capture and storage is a low-carbon technology that involves capturing the captured CO2 from fossil fuel energy electric generating units and other industrial facilities and injecting it into secure geologic strata for permanent storage; (4) the FutureGen Project is a public-private partnership between the federal Department of Energy, the FutureGen Alliance, and other partners that proposes to use this new technology as part of a plan to transport and store captured CO2 from a coal-fueled power plant that uses as its primary fuel source high-volatile bituminous rank coal with greater than 1.7 pounds of sulfur per million btu content and other captured CO2 sources that are approved by the appropriate State of Illinois agency and permitted in the State of Illinois; (5) the FutureGen Project will help ensure the long-term viability of Illinois Basin coal as a major energy source in the State of Illinois and throughout the nation and represents a significant step in the State of Illinois' efforts to become a self-sufficient, clean energy producer; (6) the FutureGen Project provides an opportunity for the State of Illinois to partner with the Federal Department of Energy, the FutureGen Alliance, and other partners in the development of these innovative clean-coal technologies; (7) the FutureGen Project will make the State of Illinois a center for developing and refining clean coal technology and carbon capture and storage, and will result in the development of new technologies designed to improve the efficiency of the energy industry that will be replicated worldwide; (8) the FutureGen Project is an important coal development and conversion project that will create jobs in the State of Illinois during the construction and operations phases, contribute to the overall economy of the State of Illinois and help reinvigorate the Illinois Basin coal industry; and (9) the FutureGen Project and the property necessary for the FutureGen Project serve a substantial public purpose as its advanced clean-coal electricity generation, advanced emissions control and carbon capture and storage technologies will benefit the citizens of the State of Illinois; and

WHEREAS, The United States Department of Energy has decided not to provide the $1 billion it had committed to the project; and

WHEREAS, The project would generate tremendous economic opportunity for the State of Illinois and is expected to be the focus of global attention; researchers and visitors from around the world would visit to learn about its operation so that they can replicate those lessons learned around the globe; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the United States Department of Energy to provide the $1 billion previously committed to the FutureGen project to assure this project will move forward; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the United States Department of Energy, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.