Actually the town in eastern Illinois was never really off the map. But it did take a big hit at the end of 2007, that's when the President from Texas killed the federal support for FutureGen, the next generation coal-burning power plant to be built in Mattoon. Some say it was because Illinois beat out Texas in the competition for that coal plant. And where is the current President from? The plant was to be a combo federal and corporate-sponsored project. Click for a look at the proposed technology involved.
Seems there's support inside the Obama Admin for the plant to go ahead. And a Government Accounting Office report released today says the Bush move cost the U.S. a decade in the race to produce electricity from "clean" coal burning plants. Several opther countries are already building or operating "clean coal" plants and working on carbon sequestration.