ENN: The Department of Energy and a consortium of 10 energy companies from the United States, China and Australia, have selected the final two sites that will compete for the $1 billion FutureGen project--a coal-fired power plant that will have near zero carbon dioxide emissions.

Sites in Mattoon and Tuscola in Illinois and near Odessa and in Jewett in Texas, beat out eight other candidates to get through to the final round. The winner will be announced in September 2007 with construction to start almost immediately afterwards. The proposed power plant will turn the coal into a hydrogen-rich gas to produce electricity for about 275,000 single-family homes. The US currently has one of the world's largest coal reserves that could provide energy for the next 250 years.