Two months after Quincy and Pike County were eliminated from contention for the location of a carbon dioxide storage site, the FutureGen Alliance announced that Morgan County will be home of the site, visitor center, and research and training facility, part of the FutureGen 2.0 project.

Morgan County was selected over proposals from Christian, Douglas and Fayette counties.

The FutureGen 2.0 project will retrofit a coal-fired power plant in Meredosia with “advanced oxy-combustion technology” with $1 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The emissions from the plant would be compressed to a liquid state, transported via pipeline and buried thousands of feet underground.

The Alliance said that the county’s high quality geology and its close proximity to Meredosia were two of the factors that led to the decision. Morgan County is the closest in proximity to the plant.

Quincy submitted a site near the Quincy Regional Airport, and Pike County submitted a site located in the northeast corner of Chambersburg Township.

Quincy was eliminated from contention because the amount of Mt. Simon sandstone was not enough for the carbon sequestration, and the Alliance wanted sites that were 20 miles away from state boundaries. The site near the airport was about 14 miles from the Missouri border.

Sandstone depth was a concern as well with the Pike County location.