By Herb Meeker

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said there is federal money in the wings for some upcoming spending on the FutureGen power plant project, and one presidential candidate has his signature on the dotted line for bringing the energy program to Illinois.

“The project has money in the bank appropriated through the Department of Energy at the federal level. There is money at the state level being spent. We wish there was more,” Durbin said when asked if the project has money to spend until full federal support could shift back to FutureGen at Mattoon.

The Senate assistant majority leader met with local officials Saturday afternoon to talk about FutureGen, especially after the Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman on Friday officially canceled the cooperative contract with FutureGen Alliance, a consortium of companies that plans to building a $1.8-billion coal-fueled electricity plant with cleaner coal technology. Mattoon was selected as the plant site in December by the alliance after a nationwide selection process, but DOE pulled support in January for the alliance plan, calling it too expensive for that commitment of resources.

Durbin said the DOE’s decision to revamp FutureGen away from the original plan has blocked any efforts to add more money through congressional action this year. During a press conference in at the Coles Business Park, he made it clear there is no hope of reversing the DOE decision with the current administration in the White House. He said all bipartisan efforts have failed, and that is why the best hope rests with the person taking the oath of office in January.

“We’re just going to have to wait until Jan. 20 when we have a new president,” Durbin said.

And that is why Durbin is optimistic about FutureGen in Mattoon getting a second chance with the federal government.

“If there is one candidate for president who is elected, he happens to know of this project and Senator (Barack) Obama has signed on to letters of support for it. I am sure if elected he will work hard to make it a reality,” said Durbin of the Democrat candidate expected to receive his party’s nomination this summer.

But Durbin is not counting out the Republican candidate, either.

“I don’t want to presume Senator (John) McCain will not support it. We want to be sure to get information to him so if he should be president he can consider it,” Durbin said.

The senator said he would support efforts by some members of Congress to force DOE officials to better explain why the decision to bring a FutureGen plant to Mattoon produced an about-face on the direction of the project.

Some committee chairmen from southern states have expressed interest in issuing subpoenas or other investigative measures to force the release of DOE documents reviewing FutureGen decision-making, especially over the past year.

“There is nothing wrong with asking for this information. This is not a matter of top-secret, classified information,” Durbin said. “I think the administration has an obligation and responsibility to let people know what was behind their decision. I would hate to see this come down to issuing subpoenas. But they should be more cooperative.”

He said the revamp of FutureGen was just a “face-saving measure” by DOE after it was decided to scrap the plans for building the plant in Illinois, not elsewhere. He said the application process on the new multi-site measures would come due when Bush administration officials are leaving Washington.

“That is going nowhere,” he said.