MATTOON - Contracts were signed Wednesday to ensure the land for the proposed FutureGen power plant can be sold for the plant's construction, meaning the sales will close regardless of whether the project becomes reality.

Officials behind the plant, however, continue to say they fully expect that to take place, as the sale and the money for it wouldn't be there otherwise.

The FutureGen Alliance exercised purchase options with three landowners for 400 acres west of Mattoon near Illinois 121 and Dole Road. The multinational alliance is paying $3.5 million of the $6.5 million cost, and Coles Together, the county's economic development organization, has money or pledges for the rest of the funds.

"This says the land is going to be purchased," Coles Together President Angela Griffin said of Wednesday's development. "It's a contractual obligation by both parties. This should go a long way to convince the public that they are committed to this site."

The options to buy the land were otherwise set to expire today.

The Mattoon site was selected for the power plant in December, but shortly after that, the U.S. Department of Energy backed off on its funding of the project.Now, supporters say they're moving forward because they fully expect the project to go ahead after a newly elected president takes office in January.

With the work done on the Mattoon site so far, there's "no other site that can be ready to host this technology as quickly as our site," Griffin said.

"There is very little uncertainty at the federal level," she said."Both presidential candidates have talked in their energy policies about FutureGen's technology and how we need to employ that technology."

The proposed coal-burning plant would sequester carbon dioxide underground instead of putting it into the air, with the idea being to help use the fuel with less impact on climate change. The alliance behind the project is made up of several energy companies from around the world.

"The alliance is very committed to building FutureGen at Mattoon," alliance spokesman Lawrence Pacheco said Wednesday. "Today's action on the land options is another step forward."

Pacheco also said there's "tremendous bipartisan support" in Congress for FutureGen, and federal lawmakers are realizing that any attempt to address climate change has to include the type of technology the plant would employ.

Meanwhile, Griffin and Mattoon City Attorney and Treasurer Preston Owen said the city's obtaining $3 million in credit to back the local funding contribution is just that, a backup. Griffin said Coles Together has raised or has pledges for the amount, so what the city did is equal to co-signing for a loan.

"At the end of the day, the city of Mattoon will never be in a position to be using taxpayer money for this purchase," she said. She promised that Coles Together assets or pledges to cover the expense "will be there."

"We're co-signing until the pledges come in is all we're doing, and they have all the pledges for this land,"Owen added.

And while Griffin and Pacheco emphasized that they think the FutureGen plant will be built on the land west of Mattoon, they explained that there is a plan in place to market the property in case that doesn't happen.

The agreement is that, if FutureGen isn't built, Coles Together would have up to three years to try to find another use for the property, then FutureGen would try to market it,Griffin said. The alliance is made up of "global companies with relationships in the industry," so if it weren't FutureGen, "something very similar would be built," she said.

Pacheco said the alliance is planning on building the FutureGen plant on the property, but if that doesn't end up happening, Coles Together would have "the final say on how the land is used."

Griffin said the closing date on the sale of the property depends on the schedules of the current owners, but it will probably be within a few months.

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