Jewett, which is not too far down the road toward Central Texas, remains a possible site, along with Odessa. They are the other state contenders still standing.
Other areas in this section of the state that submitted proposals, but were marked off the list earlier, include Henderson County, Smith-Cherokee counties, Rusk County and Harrison County.
Texas officials still are hoping one of the state's remaining bidders will land the facility, which is a United States Department of Energy project. FutureGen is a public-private initiative to build the world's first near-zero emissions coal power plant.
Operating as both a power plant and research facility, FutureGen's objective is to demonstrate the technical and economic viability of clean power generation from coal. A successful fulfillment of that objective would lead to deployment of similar clean energy facilities throughout the world.
The facility will gasify coal to generate electricity and produce hydrogen, and capture and store carbon dioxide.
Development of a "clean" coal power plant would have a big impact in Texas because the state has huge coal resources. Utilization of those resources has a great potential for helping meet future energy needs, but the potential impact of coal-burning plants on air quality has stimulated strong controversy.
Last October, Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed an executive order expediting the permitting process for seven proposed coal-fired power plants. That came at a time natural gas costs had hit about $14 per million Btu (British thermal units). Since then the cost of natural gas has fallen sharply. Where prices might go in the future is highly speculative.
In addition to questions about supplies and costs of natural gas, growing populations will bring greater demand for energy supplies. Texas' population grew from almost 19 million in 1995 to nearly 23 million in 2005. By 2030, forecasters say, there will be 30 million Texans sharing the energy supply.
The state simply cannot rely on costly natural gas plants and a small amount of highly subsidized wind plants alone, said Margo Thorning, chief economist of the American Council for Capital Formation, which advocates tax and environmental policies that encourage savings and investment.
Much of the state's electricity generating capacity is more than 50 years old and will need replacement sooner rather than later, she said. "Relying on the expansion of natural gas plants for a significant increase in generating capacity is to put Texas households, businesses and industrial sector at risk for high and unpredictable electricity prices."
Thorning noted that in recent months Texas utilities "have been castigated for having the audacity to apply for permits to build coal-fired plants to provide much needed generating capacity..."
New coal-fired plants will be far cleaner than their predecessors, emitting far fewer pollutants and less carbon than previous units, she said. But opponents still attempt to portray today's coal-fired plants with the high pollutant-emitters of several decades ago. She compared that to saying today's cars are like the gas-guzzling, exhaust-emitting autos of the 1970s.
Energy analysts largely agree that Texas probably will need to use more coal as part of a diversity of energy sources to meet growing needs in the future. Coal technology is much cleaner than it used to be, but opponents continue to argue it is not clean enough.
In light of the controversy over moving swiftly to utilize Texas' huge coal supplies for future energy needs, the FutureGen project is highly significant. Producing coal power plants with near-zero emissions should settle the controversy.
East Texas didn't make the cut with its bids for location of the first Future-Gen project, but if that operation proves highly successful the area's chances for landing a similar plant in the future should be good.
To subscribe or visit go to: http://www.zwire.com/