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SIUC Coal Expert Says Company Defections Won't Hurt Futuregen CARBONDALE, IL (wsiu) - A leading coal expert says the defections of two partners won't slow the FutureGen project.

American Electric Power Company and Southern Company have announced they're withdrawing from a corporate consortium working with the U.S. government to build the FutureGen plant near Mattoon.

SIU-Carbondale Coal Research Center director John Mead says the FutureGen alliance would have loved to have kept the two companies, but he says there are more potential partners out there to further the project since the Energy Department decided recently to revitalize it.

A FutureGen spokesperson says the nine companies still involved in the project are negotiating with new partners.

Mead says he suspects the two companies that backed out of the consortium have other projects they want to pursue right now and he doesn't rule out the opportunity for them to be a part of the effort again in the future.
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