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Apology made for FutureGen 'swamp' reference

Posted February 06, 2008 10:00 pm

Bruce Rushton

C.H. "Bud" Albright says he's sorry for saying the federal government isn't interested in "building Disneyland in some swamp in Illinois."

"I regret the comment I made," Albright, under secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, said in a written statement this week. "The decision to restructure FutureGen was based on the project's design and escalating costs, not the location announced by the FutureGen Alliance."

Albright's apology came after U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and U.S. Rep. Timothy Johnson, R-Urbana, excoriated Albright for insulting the Land of Lincoln during a recent conference call with supporters of FutureGen, a proposed coal-fueled power plant in Mattoon.

The lawmakers demanded that Albright apologize, and they also questioned whether he should keep his job.

"While Mr. Albright's comments are the most recent iteration of a theme that is becoming all too common at your agency, the insulting tone and tenor are uncalled for," the lawmakers wrote in a letter sent Tuesday to DOE Secretary Samuel Bodman. "The nature of these remarks should cause you to seriously reconsider whether or not this man can objectively serve in a post as sensitive as Under Secretary of Energy."

The dust-up is the latest in a series of clashes between members of the Illinois congressional delegation and the energy department, which recently announced it is canceling the FutureGen project.

FutureGen was supposed to generate electricity while safely storing carbon dioxide emissions deep within the earth. As recently as Nov. 30, top department officials said the project was going forward. Now, they say FutureGen is too small and too expensive.

"This goes beyond incompetence," Johnson said in a prepared statement. "It wasn't enough that they betrayed us all, but Undersecretary Albright had to augment the insult with some immature playground commentary. He doesn't deserve his title. He doesn't deserve his job."

A woman who answered the phone in the Mattoon city clerk's office said there are no swamps in or near the city. There are a couple of lakes, she said, but they are not getting bigger, even with recent heavy rains.

Albright at one point worked for Reliant Energy as a vice president of federal affairs. Reliant Energy is based in Texas, which lost out to Illinois in the fight for FutureGen.

"I wish he was still there," said Phil Bloomer, spokesman for Johnson.

Bloomer couldn't say whether his boss accepts Albright's apology.

"I haven't talked to him about this today, and I don't know at this point today that he's seen the under secretary's apology," Bloomer said. "That's a serious thing that he said."

FutureGen promises to be on the agenda in Washington, D.C., today, when the House Energy and Commerce Committee holds a hearing on the energy department's proposed 2009 budget. Three members of the Illinois congressional delegation, including U.S. Rep. John Shimkus, R-Collinsville, U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Chicago, and U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Evanston, sit on the committee.

"This will come up - I'll guarantee you," Bloomer said.

Bruce Rushton can be reached at (217) 788-1542.

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