Washington (Platts)--1Aug2008

An Illinois lawmaker said Friday he will continue to prevent US Senate
confirmation of President Bush's nominees for Department of Energy positions
as long as the agency refuses to reconsider its decision not to build a 275-MW
clean coal plant and carbon storage project in the state he represents.

In a letter to Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, Senator Richard Durbin
repeated a request that he and other Illinois lawmakers have made for DOE to
extend a contract for the FutureGen project so that the next president could
consider reviving the venture.

Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic candidate for president,
has said he supports DOE's original plan to put the project in Matoon,
Illinois.

Durbin released the letter following a meeting with acting Deputy Energy
Secretary Jeffrey Kupfer, whose confirmation for the number-two position at
DOE on a permanent basis has been blocked by the senator. Durbin said he would
also block Bush's nomination this week of James Slutz as assistant secretary
for fossil energy.

Under Senate rules, one senator can prevent the chamber from voting on a
nomination. The DOE nominees are among a number of Bush appointments that
various senators are blocking over their differences with the administration
on issues.

"Without an indication of support from your department for moving for
moving forward with the FutureGen project -- the president's signature clean
coal initiative -- or, at least, extending the contract, I will be unable to
help confirm these nominations," Durbin said.

Durbin's remarks came one day after the House of Representatives Science
and Technology Committee requested records from DOE regarding its decision to
withdraw its support for plans to build the demonstration plant.

An industry consortium called the FutureGen Alliance selected the
Illinois site for the $1.8-billion project.

DOE withdrew from the project because of its rising cost and restructured
its clean-coal program to eventually support several smaller projects.

There was no immediate response from DOE to Durbin's letter.

--Bill Loveless, bill_loveless@platts.com