FutureGen supporters hopeful with new president

CHAMPAIGN -- Supporters of the FutureGen clean coal plant are hoping that a Barack Obama administration will revive their chances of building the plant in Mattoon.

The director of the Coal Research Center at Southern Illinois University says he considers Obama's win a positive for FutureGen.

But John Mead stresses patience because whomever Obama chooses as Department of Energy chief must first be approved by the Senate.

An alliance of power and coal companies that had worked with the government on the experimental plant picked Mattoon over Texas sites late last year.

But the Energy Department pulled out citing ballooning costs.

The plant would test whether greenhouse gases could be stored underground.