It's a project initiated by the Department of Energy in 2001, and since abandoned by the DOE due to cost and viability issues. But it looks like the FutureGen "clean coal" project in downstate Illinois will be resurrected by the Illinois political troika of Barack Obama, Rod Blagojevich, and Dick Durbin. (via TWS blog)
What do you get when you combine impeached former Illinois Democratic governor Rod Blagojevich, legendary K Street lobbying firm Cassidy & Associates, Senate appropriator Dick Durbin, D-IL, President Barack Obama, former Democratic House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri, and the largest spending bill in the history of the planet?Posted by dan at February 15, 2009 11:49 PMYou get the costliest earmark Washington has ever seen.
Obama proclaims his stimulus bill is earmark-free, but that claim is a bit Clintonian. Turns out, it depends on what the meaning of the word earmark is. What if a provision in the bill doesn’t name one specific project, but is written so narrowly that only one project is eligible?