MATTOON John Thompson is an environmentalist who has opposed projects billed as job bonanzas for communities.

Why? He believed public safety would not be served.

In the 1980s, he opposed placing a low-level nuclear waste storage site in Clark County. The technological guarantees were not there to ensure the public's safety, said Thompson, who works for the Clean Air Task Force of Boston out of Carbondale near the heart of Illinois coal mine country.

Thompson and many others, including local residents, convinced a panel to reject the proposed storage site near Martinsville.

So when the FutureGen project was proposed to the public earlier this year, some were heartened when Thompson spoke strongly in support of the effort.

But his support is not about economic boosterism for the communities of Mattoon and Tuscola, both on the final four list for FutureGen plant sites. He's thinking about the future of the planet when he supports FutureGen and other efforts to produce cleaner ways to use coal.

"We see coal at a crossroads," said Thompson. "We have to find a way to use coal for energy but reduce the impact of carbon dioxide and other pollutants from coal-fired power plants. The most pressing environmental problem we face today is global warming. We need coal, but if it is used on the scale it is now, that will kill the planet."

The problem is not just in the United States.

"Last year, China alone increased its coal use by 200 million tons per year. That 200 million tons is about six to seven times the amount of coal mined every year in Illinois," Thompson said.

FutureGen technology will produce air emissions at tiny levels, compared to traditional coal-fired power plants that have dominated the industry for decades. Planners claim it will take care of carbon dioxide emissions through underground storage or sequestration.

Thompson cited figures showing that a "typical" coal-fired power plant such as one operating in Central Illinois would emit sulfur dioxide emissions in 2.8 days equal to a FutureGen plant's emissions over an entire year.

A power plant with FutureGen technology also would take care of carbon dioxide pollution by injecting it underground into saline deposits. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas linked to global warming.

"You have to realize carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for years to come. The stuff we emit today we can't simply pull out. That is why my organization is supportive of FutureGen and coal gasification plants. We know it ought to be," Thompson said.

The FutureGen Alliance is a consortium of utilities and coal users from different continents. It has partnered with the Department of Energy to produce a power plant in either Texas or Illinois by 2012. The FutureGen site will be selected in September 2007.

Herb Meeker can be reached at hmeeker@jg-tc.com or 238-6869.