伊利諾州選出的官員，誓言要針對聯邦能源部一個封殺「未來發電乾淨燃煤發電計畫（FutureGen clean coal project）」的想法，一路對抗到白宮。這個將落腳在伊利諾州的馬頓市（Mattoon）造價18億美元最先進的發電廠是在2003年公布要執行的，並且被視為是全球最乾淨的燃煤發電廠。
能源部長波德曼（Samuel Bodman）是29日在一個華盛頓舉行的會議上，知會伊利諾州國會議員團有關能源部打算解散「未來發電」聯盟的規劃，並且將以其他作法來進行此乾淨燃煤發電主張。
聯邦參議員德賓（Dick Durbin）表示：「我在國會山莊任職25年期間，還沒有看過這麼令人痛心的欺騙行為。過去5年間，儘管它的經費昂貴並且可能會要虧本經營，能源部仍一直敦促我們及其他州政府要達成這項非常重要的能源計畫。然而當伊利諾州的馬頓市打敗德州的一些地點被選上時，能源部長卻祭出要封殺這項計畫的想法」。德賓指出：「在今天與部長會面之後，很顯然地，過去能源部長波德曼一直在誤導伊利諾州民眾，製造未來發電計畫的假希望，實際上根本沒有意願要提供經費或是支持這項計畫。」
「未來發電」計畫是由聯邦能源部與「未來發電」企業聯盟公司以官方與私人合夥關係建構起來的，而「未來發電」企業聯盟是由12個美國及國際能源公司所組成的非營利集資團體。經過將近5年的廠址審核過程，聯盟在2007年12月18日宣布伊利諾州的馬頓市將會是美國第一個低碳排放燃煤電廠計畫的廠址。
Illinois elected officials are vowing to fight all the way to the White House a plan by the U.S. Department of Energy to kill the FutureGen clean coal project that was slated for Mattoon, Illinois. The $1.8 billion state-of-the-art plant announced in 2003 was billed as the cleanest in the world.
Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman informed the Illinois Congressional Delegation at a meeting in Washington on Tuesday that the Energy Department plans to disband the FutureGen Alliance and is planning to take the clean coal initiative in another direction.
"In 25 years on Capitol Hill, I have never witnessed such a cruel deception," said U.S. Senator Dick Durbin. "For five years, the Department of Energy has urged our state and others to pursue, at great expense and sacrifice, this critically important energy project. When the City of Mattoon, Illinois was chosen over possible locations in Texas, the Secretary of Energy set out to kill FutureGen."
"After our meeting today it is clear that Secretary of Energy Sam Bodman has misled the people of Illinois, creating false hope in a FutureGen project which has no intention of funding or supporting," Durbin said Tuesday.
FutureGen is a public-private partnership between the U.S. Energy Department and the FutureGen Industrial Alliance, Inc, a non-profit consortium of 12 American and international energy companies.
After an almost five-year long site review process, the FutureGen Alliance announced on December 18, 2007 that Mattoon, Illinois would be the site of the first low emissions coal project in the United States.
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In my healing journey and learning to attain the breath awareness, I become aware of the reality that all the creatures of the world are breathing the same breath. Take action, here and now. From my physical being to the every corner of this out of balance's planet.
