Who will pay for the Taylorville coal plant?
I attended two public hearings in Taylorville recently about the coal gasification and carbon capture plant proposed by Tenaska company. It's a similar project but completely separate from the FutureGen plant proposed in Mattoon. Local press coverage was lacking so I hope to write several posts over the next few days.
Tenaska is asking for a deal that could fix rates for thirty years of guaranteed profits to the company without having to pay a dime for plant construction.
The October 28 Department of Energy hearing was on the Environmental Impact Study, which is part of Tenaska's application for $2.6 Billion in guaranteed federal loans. These won't necessarily be repaid.
During the hearing, several speakers bragged about public financing of the project and promised more to come. A spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Economic Opportunity said his agency spent $2.5 million for front end studies, which was matched by another $2.5 million from the Clean Coal Review Board sponsored by Southern Illinois University. He was also proud of the many hours DCEO employees spent promoting the development of this project, presumably at taxpayer expense.
Additionally, the Illinois Finance Authority approved $500 million in tax exempt bonds. The state is currently financing a blue-ribbon panel to convince us that the plant won't raise electric rates.
But the real stinker is a provision sought by the company in a bill passed by the General Assembly that would allow them to hand the plant over to the Illinois Power Authority after 30 years, along with all debts, legal obligations, and cleanup costs. Tenaska Inc. could continuously refinance their loans on the plant without paying them off for 30 years before handing them over to taxpayers. If something goes wrong with the carbon capture process, which is untested on this scale, taxpayers would pick up the cost of legal liabilities.
The entire bill for building and shutting down the plant could be handed over to the state after the operating company uses fixed rates to guarantee profits for 30 years. What a sweet deal for the company! I wonder if I can get IPA and DOE to co-sign for my new car loan?