SUBCOMMITTEE EVALUATES RESTRUCTURED FUTUREGEN PROGRAM

Washington D.C. - April 15, 2008 – The Subcommittee on Energy and Environment today held a hearing to review the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) plan to restructure the FutureGen program. FutureGen, first announced in 2003, was the Administration’s first major initiative to promote research, development and demonstration of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technologies. Citing a rise in cost estimates and changing market factors, DOE announced plans earlier this year to restructure the program. Under the new program, DOE will partner with companies that plan to build clean coal power plants by providing funding for the addition of CCS technologies to these plants.

Subcommittee Ranking Member Bob Inglis (R-SC) expressed his support for the goals of FutureGen, saying, “We’re using lots of coal and need to focus on ways to make that consumption cleaner and more efficient. We need these technologies to be affordable and attractive to U.S. and global industry alike.

Inglis continued, “ America can lead the way with technological innovation that can be easily integrated into existing coal plants worldwide. However, DOE’s decision to restructure the FutureGen program raises questions about how our nation will maintain our leadership toward clean coal technologies.”

Coal is the most abundant, lowest-priced fossil fuel in the United States. It is also an abundant natural resource for much of the world and will remain a major source of energy in the United States. In 2007, the U.S. consumed 1.1 billion tons of coal, which is expected to grow to an estimated 1.5 billion tons by 2030, according to DOE’s Energy Information Administration.

Testifying on behalf of DOE, Clarence H. “Bud” Albright, Jr., Under Secretary of Energy said, “We are committed to using coal more cleanly and efficiently while, at the same time, reducing its environmental impacts. Since 2001, the Bush Administration and Congress have called for the investment of more than $2.5 billion in clean coal research and development.”

Albright went on to defend restructuring FutureGen as a better way to move CCS technologies forward. “The goal of our restructured FutureGen program remains the same as the original FutureGen approach announced in 2003: to maximize our national investment in clean coal research by demonstrating cutting-edge system integration of CCS technologies.” Albright continued, “The difference is that under the restructured program, our plan, with current cost estimates, is to support not just a single less-than-commercial-scale R&D testing laboratory, but rather to provide funding for commercial demonstration of integrated advanced carbon capture and storage technologies.”

Also testifying at today’s hearing were: Mr. Paul Thompson, Senior Vice President, Energy Services, at E.On, LLC and Chairman of the FutureGen Alliance Board; Mr. Ben Yamagata, Executive Director, Coal Utilization Research Council; and Mr. Jeffrey N. Phillips, Program Manager, Advanced Coal Generation Electric Power Research Institute.

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