Mattoon gets FutureGen

Mattoon, Ill. — not Odessa — was picked Tuesday morning by the FutureGen Alliance as the site for the world’s first near-zero-emissions power plant.

But even as a wave of initial disappointment swept through the capacity crowd at the UTPB Center for Energy and Economic Diversification when FutureGen Alliance CEO Michael Mudd made the announcement, there was a solid recognition that while the alliance’s choice may have knocked Odessa down, the community is certainly not out of the running for a major power plant based on clean coal technology.

“We’ve had disappointments in the past and our community has proven to be ever resilient — we’ve always bounced back, and we will again — perhaps much stronger as a result of our efforts,” a visibly disappointed Odessa Mayor Larry Melton told the crowd.

“We’ve proven that we can do more when we work together,” he said. “Odessa and West Texas can hold our heads high with the knowledge that we put our best foot forward and did the very best we could.”

Permian Basin FutureGen Alliance Project Coordinator Hoxie Smith said he’s already “been contacted by several people who say they would like to build a power plant on that site.

“You know, the free enterprise system will make it happen,” Smith said. “I’m very positive of that.”

Saying he was obligated to hold in private the names of who had contacted him in that regard, Smith said, “Luminant, the electricity generating arm of TXU, has indicated that it is looking for sites to locate IGCC power plants. And with the ability we have to market the CO2, I think we’ll have many opportunities to talk with interested companies.”

Odessa’s proposed FutureGen site is located just off Interstate 20 at Penwell in far west Ector County. The 600-acre site features highway access, frontage along the Union Pacific Railroad tracks, close proximity to the electricity grid and other features that made it conducive to such a facility.

In making the announcement, Mudd, from Washington D.C., told the televised audience that the decision was based on science, a determination of risks and benefits, and cost.

“It was not based on politics,” he said.

He said the Mattoon site offered the following advantages:

>> A very clear legal title to the CO2 injection site.

>> An abundant source of water.

>> On-site injection of CO2.

>> Strong support in that community and the immediate area.

Smith congratulated Mattoon on getting the nearly $2 billion Department of Energy power plant.

“Our project was a little more sophisticated and a little more complicated than the others,” he added.

But he noted that the foundation has been laid for such a facility in the Permian Basin. “There’s no where better than West Texas to prove out this clean coal technology.”

Bob Trentham, director and senior lecturer at UTPB’s Center for Energy and Economic Diversification, said, “This is a dry hole, that’s all.

“A dry hole never stopped anybody in West Texas,” he said.