FutureGen Alliance's board taps new chairman

MATTOON -- A coalition of coal and power companies planning to build the experimental FutureGen power plant in eastern Illinois has a new chairman.

The so-called FutureGen Alliance's board of directors has elected Steven Winberg of Pennsylvania-based Consol Energy Inc. as the successor to Paul Thompson, whose term has ended.

Word of Winberg's selection comes a day after the alliance said it reached an agreement with the Department of Energy to continue developing the project in Mattoon.

The plant would use coal to produce power while removing the resulting greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and storing it underground.

Winberg is the vice president for Consol's research and development efforts.