State Representative Avery Bourne has been appointed to fill a seat on the recently established task force that seeks to increase the use of Illinois coal.

A new law, that was sponsored by Bourne, created the task force to study the costs and benefits of using the latest scrubber technology to allow Illinois coal mined in the state and burned here as well.

In a statement, Bourne said that coal is one of Illinois' most abundant resources, and state citizens should be able to utilize that resource here. She added that thru the task force, they are working to take a different approach that promotes clean coal and good-paying jobs. The vast majority of Illinois coal is being sold and burned out of state because of the sulfur content, which burns off at a higher rate than federal and state air quality standards allow. A way to prevent, or reduce, sulfur escaping into the air when the coal is being burned is to install costly scrubbers that help remove sulfur before leaving the stack.

The bipartisan task force's members' primary responsibility is to study the costs and benefits of the construction of new stacks or conversion of existing stacks at coal-fired power plants with flue gas desulfurization scrubber technology.