Governor Blagojevich signs Clean Coal Legislation Paving Way for Taylorville Gasification Plant

From the Office of Governor Rod Blagojevich

CHICAGO – Taking another bold step toward establishing Illinois as a national leader in fighting climate change and creating a cleaner and more energy independent future, Governor Rod R. Blagojevich today signed Senate Bill 1987, which creates a Clean Coal Portfolio standard that will encourage construction of facilities that emit far fewer pollutants than are older, traditional coal-fired power plants.

Senate Bill 1987, which was sponsored by State Senator Donne E. Trotter (D–Chicago), will enable Tenaska’s proposed Taylorville Energy Center to become the nation’s first commercial-scale, Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power plant that will convert coal into a gas that will be used to generate electricity and allow for the capture and underground storage of carbon dioxide emissions.

“The Taylorville Energy Center’s use of cutting edge clean coal gasification technology is a great example of how we can grow our economy and create good paying jobs while protecting our environment,” said Governor Blagojevich. “Illinois has among world’s largest coal reserves and the geology needed to safely store greenhouse gases underground that will let use this domestic energy source in an environmentally safe manner while reducing our state’s reliance on imported energy sources.”

It is intended to create a stable market for power produced by coal gasification power plants by requiring Illinois utilities to buy up to five percent of their power from clean-coal facilities by 2015. It also creates a goal that each public utility to obtain 25 percent of its power from clean coal plants by 2025.

It dramatically expands the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) that currently requires Illinois utilities to purchase 25 percent of their electricity from renewable sources, such as wind power, by 2025 by imposing the same requirement on Alternative Retail Electric Suppliers, companies that sell power to commercial and industrial electricity customers. Expanding the RPS will double the amount of renewable energy supplied to Illinois customers, spur billions in new investments in renewable energy and create thousands of new construction and permanent green tech jobs across Illinois.

It also requires the two main utilities that serve Illinois customers – ComEd and Ameren – to invest in efforts that help customers reduce their energy use during time of peak energy usage. Such “demand response” that cut peak energy use not only save consumers money but can reduce emissions by avoiding the need to generate additional power.

Clean coal facilities, such as the Taylorville Energy Center, can responsibly use Illinois coal to produce power and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by capturing carbon dioxide that can be permanently stored underground in mature oil fields or deep saline aquifers. In addition to vast coal reserves, Illinois’ geology is well-suited for carbon sequestration, making Illinois an ideal place to build coal gasification plants.

The $3 billion gasification plant would create 1,500 construction jobs, 120 permanent jobs at the plant and 160 new mining jobs to supply the 1.8 million tons of Illinois coal needed annually to power more than 600,000 households.

The plant will use coal gasification technology that emits dramatically lower emissions than conventional coal plants. The air pollution permit issued by the Illinois EPA reflects Illinois’ commitment to developing environmentally responsible solutions to meet rising energy demand.

“The air we all breathe will be cleaner because gasification plants remove pollutants and impurities prior to combustion, resulting in significantly lower mercury, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and particular emissions than conventional coal plants,” said Illinois EPA Director Doug Scott.

The Taylorville Energy Center has received a final air permit from the Illinois EPA, the first issued in the country for a commercially-sized IGCC power generating plant, and has authorized independent power producer Christian County Generation (CCG), or Tenaska, as managing member of CCG, to build the gasification plant.

The Governor today also signed Senate Bill 1511, sponsored by State Senator Kwame Raoul (D – Chicago) and State Representative Gary Hannig (D – Gillespie), which approves $35 million in State-backed bonds to fund a study on the development of clean coal and efficient energy resource development throughout the state. To protect consumers and ensure that the costs of building and operating the Taylorville plant will be reasonable, the bill requires Tenaska to complete a facility cost report and submit it for approval by the Illinois Commerce Commission and the Illinois General Assembly before construction can begin.