John Shimkus: “In the days and weeks of bad news, I would like to come to the floor with some good news. On Monday, I attended an…”

“In the days and weeks of bad news, I would like to come to the floor with some good news. On Monday, I attended an announcement of a collocated coal mine and power plant that is being planned and developed in Washington County, Illinois. Generation is planned for 2003. Construction of this facility will create approximately 1,500 jobs and then for the operation of the coal mine and the power plant another 500 jobs. These will be high-paying union jobs. This is what we and the administration hoped for in a national energy plan. I applaud the State of Illinois for their assistance and I look forward to low-cost, reliable, clean energy for Illinois and this Nation.”