The Department of Energy says it has suspended the long-planned FutureGen clean-coal project in western Illinois.
DOE spokesman Bill Gibbons told The Associated Press on Tuesday the department concluded the project couldn't meet a September deadline to use its $1 billion in federal stimulus funding.
Lawrence Pacheco is a spokesman for the FutureGen Alliance, the group of coal companies working with the government on the project. He said the alliance has no choice but to shut down. Without the federal funding there isn't enough money to finish the $1.65 billion project.
The plan was to refit a coal-fired power plant near Meredosia in western Illinois and store carbon dioxide from the coal underground.
An earlier version of the project was dropped by the administration of President George W. Bush due to costs.
