Lawsuit aimed at FutureGen pollution standards
SPRINGFIELD— The Sierra Club has filed a federal lawsuit aimed at tightening the pollution controls planned for the FutureGen clean-coal project.
The environmental group argues In the lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Springfield that the project needs to meet tougher standards for preventing the release of pollutants into the air.
Jack Darin is director of the Sierra Club's Illinois chapter. He told Lee Enterprises' Springfield Bureau that the group remains skeptical that the project's promise of clean coal is possible.
The $1.3 billion project intends to use primarily federal funds to refit a coal-fired power plant in Meredosia in western Illinois. Carbon dioxide from the coal used at the plant would be pumped underground and stored.
The FutureGen Alliance said it was reviewing the lawsuit.