By IL Public Radio
Meredosia, IL – The small town of Meredosia in Morgan County is looking forward to being part of a coal project that could bring jobs the area.
Meredosia Mayor Kenneth Scott says reality is setting in now that he has been at the table with officials from Ameren and the federal government.
Scott says the town of 11-hundred could see thousands of construction jobs and dozens of permanent jobs as an oil-fired power plant is retrofitted to become the world's first oxy-combustion coal-fired plant. "The more I started researching a realizing what a large project this was it was certainly humbling and amazing for this small town."
Meredosia was added to the project after the federal government scrapped plans to build a new plant in Mattoon.
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin says later this week, the Department of Energy is expected to announce standards for communities to bid on a separate storage facility. It will house carbon dioxide from the Meredosia plant... storing it underground.
The more than two dozen interested communities can choose whether or not to submit an official bid, with the announcement of the storage site expected by the first of next year.
