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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The Illinois General Assembly has previously
3established the Clean Coal FutureGen for Illinois Act of 2011,
4recognizing that the FutureGen Project is a first-of-its-kind
5research project to permanently sequester underground captured
6CO2 emissions from: (1) a coal-fueled power plant that uses as
7its primary fuel source high-volatile bituminous rank coal with
8greater than 1.7 pounds of sulfur per million btu content; or
9(2) other approved and permitted captured CO2 sources in the
10State of Illinois; and
 
11    WHEREAS, The FutureGen Project would have benefits to the
12economy and environment of Illinois; and
 
13    WHEREAS, The State is committed to: (1) providing the
14non-profit FutureGen Alliance with adequate liability
15protection and permitting certainty to facilitate the siting of
16the FutureGen Project in the State of Illinois; (2) providing
17the State of Illinois certain financial benefits from
18environmental attributes for the project; and (3) helping
19secure over $1 billion in federal funding for the project; and
 
20    WHEREAS, The General Assembly found and determined that:
21(1) human-induced greenhouse gas emissions have been
22identified as contributing to global warming, the effects of

 

 

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1which pose a threat to public health and safety and the economy
2of the State of Illinois; (2) in order to meet the energy needs
3of the State of Illinois, keep its economy strong and protect
4the environment while reducing its contribution to
5human-induced greenhouse gas emissions, the State of Illinois
6must be a leader in developing new low-carbon technologies; (3)
7carbon capture and storage is a low-carbon technology that
8involves capturing the captured CO2 from fossil fuel energy
9electric generating units and other industrial facilities and
10injecting it into secure geologic strata for permanent storage;
11(4) the FutureGen Project is a public-private partnership
12between the federal Department of Energy, the FutureGen
13Alliance, and other partners that proposes to use this new
14technology as part of a plan to transport and store captured
15CO2 from a coal-fueled power plant that uses as its primary
16fuel source high-volatile bituminous rank coal with greater
17than 1.7 pounds of sulfur per million btu content and other
18captured CO2 sources that are approved by the appropriate State
19of Illinois agency and permitted in the State of Illinois; (5)
20the FutureGen Project will help ensure the long-term viability
21of Illinois Basin coal as a major energy source in the State of
22Illinois and throughout the nation and represents a significant
23step in the State of Illinois' efforts to become a
24self-sufficient, clean energy producer; (6) the FutureGen
25Project provides an opportunity for the State of Illinois to
26partner with the Federal Department of Energy, the FutureGen

 

 

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1Alliance, and other partners in the development of these
2innovative clean-coal technologies; (7) the FutureGen Project
3will make the State of Illinois a center for developing and
4refining clean coal technology and carbon capture and storage,
5and will result in the development of new technologies designed
6to improve the efficiency of the energy industry that will be
7replicated worldwide; (8) the FutureGen Project is an important
8coal development and conversion project that will create jobs
9in the State of Illinois during the construction and operations
10phases, contribute to the overall economy of the State of
11Illinois and help reinvigorate the Illinois Basin coal
12industry; and (9) the FutureGen Project and the property
13necessary for the FutureGen Project serve a substantial public
14purpose as its advanced clean-coal electricity generation,
15advanced emissions control and carbon capture and storage
16technologies will benefit the citizens of the State of
17Illinois; and
 
18    WHEREAS, The United States Department of Energy has decided
19not to provide the $1 billion it had committed to the project;
20and
 
21    WHEREAS, The project would generate tremendous economic
22opportunity for the State of Illinois and is expected to be the
23focus of global attention; researchers and visitors from around
24the world would visit to learn about its operation so that they

 

 

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1can replicate those lessons learned around the globe;
2therefore, be it
 
3    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
4NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
5urge the United States Department of Energy to provide the $1
6billion previously committed to the FutureGen project to assure
7this project will move forward; and be it further
 
8    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
9presented to the United States Department of Energy, the United
10States Environmental Protection Agency, and the Illinois
11Environmental Protection Agency.