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MEREDOSIA, ILL. -- Meredosia, Illinois only has about 960 people living there.

In the next few years, about 900 jobs could be headed there.

The Ameren Plant in Meredosia may be the site of a project known as FutureGen 2.0.

The project is designed to produce clean energy from coal by capturing and storing more than one million tons of carbon dioxide, which is about 90% of the plants C02 emissions.

Senator Dick Durbin was able to push for more than $1 billion in federal funding for this project.

If the project is accepted by the United States Department of Energy, it would be the world's first full scale oxy-coal-fired power plant with permanent carbon dioxide capture and storage.

KHQA's Jarod Wells found out what that would mean to the village.

The Ameren Plant in Meredosia still produces energy, but in 2009 more than 80 people were laid off from it.

Meredosia Mayor Kenneth Scott said, "We've lost a lot of jobs recently, over the past 5-10 years, just between Cellanese and Ameren's layoffs that they've just had and we've had a few years of high water, it's just great to have some good news."

Good news indeed. Jarod spoke with one construction worker who says work in the area has been scarce.

Area resident Mark Edlin said, "Since we're in the construction field and there isn't a lot going on around here, I think it'll be a great deal."

And the full time jobs will provide a boost too.

Area resident Gary McCormick said, "Well it's going to help the economy a lot around here, which has been kind of sagging."

Scott said, "Well that'll be great for the local economy, during construction we'll probably see a lot of business at the restaurants, the stores, the gas stations and then the 50 permanent jobs, they'll be really good because it'll probably be younger people entering the workforce."

Which Mayor Scott hopes will bring more families to Meredosia and more kids to the school district. Looking a little further into the future, the bridge over the Illinois River at Meredosia will be replaced in the next few years as well.

Scott said, "What we're looking at is a lot of construction works in town for maybe the next 8-10 years doing the two projects and that'll be good for the local economy."

If the FutureGen 2.0 project is accepted by the US Department of Energy, construction could begin in 2012 and last through 2015.