methodist musings

waiting for my venti, non-fat, extra hot caramel macchiato at starbuck’s on friday, i glanced down at the chicago tribune. on the cover page was a picture of cheerleaders from tuscola, il; a small illinois town, not far from where i grew up. there article is about a decision being made by an alternative energy company trying to determine where to build its factory. i read part of the article. here are the first three paragraphs:

ODESSA, Texas - Illinois and Texas have been trying to one-up each other for more than a century, and now, the rivalry has entered a new phase with the battle for a cutting-edge power plant that is one of the richest and most promising research plums of the energy crisis.

The $1.8 billion FutureGen plant will test a kind of green-era alchemy: whether energy can be coaxed from dirty coal with near zero pollution. The competition has narrowed to four sites in the Lone Star and Prairie States, and a winner will be named next week.

The showdown is just the latest dating back to the Mexican-American war, when Illinois troops smuggled the captured wooden leg of Alamo conqueror Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna north to Springfield, where it resides to this day in a museum. It was a war trophy Texans would have loved dearly.

two cities in illinois, and one in texas are vying for the plant. i guess, since we’ve got santa anna’s leg, we’re a leg up on texas
read the whole article here