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CHAMPAIGN, ILL. -- UPDATE: December 20 at 4:57 p.m.

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) made the following statement after the FutureGen Alliance announced that four communities – Christian County, Douglas County, Fayette County and Morgan County – will advance to the next stage of the competition to host the FutureGen 2.0 carbon dioxide (CO2) storage site, visitor center, research, and training facilities.

The FutureGen 2.0 project and pipeline network is expected to bring 1,000 jobs to downstate Illinois and another 1,000 jobs for suppliers across the state.  

“This next step in the site selection process keeps FutureGen 2.0 on track,” said Durbin.  “While the geology was not ideal in the communities that received disappointing news today, the four communities that remain in competition will now have the opportunity to strengthen their proposals.  Hosting FutureGen 2.0 in Illinois will create thousands of good-paying jobs and put our state on the forefront of clean coal research and technology.”

After dozens of communities expressed interest in hosting a site for the storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) collected at an Ameren Energy Resources power plant in Meredosia, Illinois, the FutureGen Industrial Alliance announced the details of a selection process.

On November 16, the Alliance announced that six qualifying communities had submitted full proposals. 

Following the site selection, expected to occur in early 2011, the Alliance will prepare detailed environmental and technical information for the selected site that will be provided to the Department of Energy for the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement.

Earlier this year, the Department of Energy signed final cooperative agreements with the FutureGen Industrial Alliance and Ameren Energy Resources.

These agreements formally committed $1 billion in Recovery Act funding to build FutureGen 2.0 in Illinois.

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The companies working with the U.S. Department of Energy to develop the FutureGen clean-coal project say they've cut the list of six potential carbon dioxide storage sites to four.

The FutureGen Alliance said Monday the city of Quincy and Pike County north of St. Louis are no longer being considered.

The alliance said it expects to pick a site in February in Douglas, Christian, Fayette or Morgan counties.

Morgan County in western Illinois is the location of the power plant FutureGen plans to refit with newer technology.

Carbon dioxide from the coal used at the plant in Meredosia would be piped to the underground storage site.

The Energy Department earlier this year scrapped plans to both build a new FutureGen plant and store CO2 in Mattoon.