FARMERSVILLE - Gov. Rod Blagojevich finalized a package of incentives and legal protections Monday aimed at helping Illinois land FutureGen, a prototypical coal power plant billed as a top new technology for getting energy without polluting.

If the state is successful, FutureGen could be located in either Mattoon or Tuscola. Despite that, Blagojevich signed the measure at a Freeman Energy coal mine near Farmersville, about a half hour south of Springfield.

The FutureGen incentive package had stalled for months but found the necessary momentum to gain approval just recently. The incentives and legal protections join with what the local communities have offered to lure the plant.

"The state's package will be the perfect complement to what the two sites put forward," said state Rep. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet.

Two towns in Texas join Tuscola and Mattoon as FutureGen's four finalists. Both states tout various strengths in their bids for the plant, which will burn coal but direct pollutants thousands of feet underground instead of into the air.

With the incentive package finished, it's up to the federal government to decide where the $1.4 billion project, and the thousands of jobs it promises, ends up.

"It's a step closer, but we have more work to do," Blagojevich said.

Some of that work will be handled by a prominent Washington, D.C., lobbying firm that the state has hired to plug the project there. But Blagojevich and his staff have said the final decision will depend on what location makes the most sense scientifically.

Still, because the federal government will make the final decision, some have worried that President Bush's home state of Texas would have the leg up.

Blagojevich pointed out Monday that the federal Secretary of Energy, Samuel Bodman, hails from Illinois.

"Not that he's going to make a decision based upon any place he may have come from, but he actually came from Illinois," Blagojevich said. "Which maybe cancels out President Bush coming from Texas. You never know."

The final decision could come in November.

In the meantime, Blagojevich and several lawmakers on hand Monday used the occasion to push for legislation that would help a coal power plant in Taylorville get built.

"Now we have to work together for another project," said Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson, R-Greenville.

The Taylorville Energy Center still needs legislative help from the House before construction can begin. An official with the project's developer, Tenaska, has said the project may leave Illinois if it doesn't get approval this year.

Mike Riopell can be reached at mike.riopell@lee.net or 789-0865.