The seats are in place and the banners up. Directions for guests have been checked and double-checked for the FutureGen Alliance announcements in Illinois.

Now, the main question is whether the FutureGen power plant will come to town.

Sometime after 9 a.m. today, residents in Mattoon or Tuscola could have a lot to cheer about if they are chosen as the site for the state-of-the-art power plant.

Mattoon residents will gather in the former Time Theater on Broadway Avenue to view an Internet videocast of the announcement. A similar gathering is planned in the Tuscola Community Building.

"Right now, we're waiting like everyone else," Mattoon Public Works Director Dave Wortman said Monday. "I don't think anybody really knows where it will go. They know how to keep a secret."

Brian Moody, executive director of Tuscola Economic Development, said it is fortunate he and other FutureGen team members in the Illinois communities have had busy days preparing for the announcement ceremony. After nearly two years of preparing and waiting for the decision, the anxiety is bearing down on the site communities.

"Fortunately, we've been so busy, the day went by quickly," Moody said Monday.

FutureGen officials in Maryland will announce this morning where a coal-burning, near-zero emissions power plant will be built. The Illinois towns are finalists for the project, along with sites at Odessa and Jewett, Texas.

FutureGen Alliance CEO Michael Mudd will speak during the Webcast from Washington. It should only take a few minutes before he announces the decision on which community will host the power plant designed to revitalize coal's role in energy production. The plant is expected to be in operation by 2012 and produce 1,300 construction jobs, 150 permanent plant operation jobs and be responsible for an estimated 1,225 additional jobs.

Local and state officials have said FutureGen coming to Illinois could produce an annual $116 million income. FutureGen Alliance, a group of utilities, coal-related companies and the U.S. Department of Energy, have partnered in developing the technology to make a cleaner-burning power plant using coal. Some estimates claim the final cost might be nearly $2 billion to build the facility, which will pump carbon dioxide thousands of feet underground into saline deposits.

When the decision is announced, it won't take long for the winning community to become more acquainted with FutureGen.

"They have said they will come to the site the day after the announcement," Wortman said. "That is their way of saying they want to push the project forward as soon as possible."

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