ISGS - July 2005 Activity Highlights

Mine-Mouth Power Plant Study Helps Bring New Coal Gasification Plant to Illinois

Governor Blagojevich signing a bill
supporting the sale of synthetic
natural gas to regulated Illinois
utilities.

Robert Gilpin, President of Power Holdings, LLC, has confirmed that the information contained in the Illinois State Geological Survey's published mine-mouth power plant study (CD-ROM, June 2002) was very useful in his company’s decision to locate new coal gasification plant. Gilpin stated, "In fact, many of the problems now being experienced by other developers regarding water, coal, and transmission could have been avoided if they simply used the ISGS information that was available at a minimal cost." Details about this new, $1 billion plant and associated coal mine were announced during the signing by Governor Rod R. Blagojevich on June 21, 2005, in Mt. Vernon, of critical legislation aimed at promoting Illinois' coal resources. The mine-mouth power plant siting study was supported by a grant from the Illinois Board of Higher Education and used student assistance to deliver a series of new statewide digital maps at a scale of 1:250,000. The maps graphically illustrated current coal availability, updated water resources information supplied by the Illinois State Water Survey, coal powered electric plants, and the electrical transmission grid. These layers, in combination, were deemed important information needed for locating new, mine-mouth electrical and fuel generation facilities. (Contacts: R. Finley, S. Gustison)

Members of the Well Database Tea
(l-r): Chris Korose, Steve Gustison,
Rob Krumm, Sheena Beaverson,
and Alison Lecouris (seated).

Well Database Management and Technical Assistance

The ISGS performs a wide range of database management tasks including technical assistance to staff members and professional colleagues and information to the general public. For example, during the past month, technical assistance was provided to nine staff members; many of these tasks involved assistance with retrieving data from the Survey’s database and instruction on using database utilities and applications. Other tasks involved troubleshooting and resolving issues with database-related activities on newly upgraded PCs. An ISGS staff member also interacted with staff from the U.S. Geological Survey in Urbana by offering suggestions and advice about planning, installing, and configuring database software. Nine quotations were given to the public relating to the purchase of electronic well data from the ISGS database, and 10 technical assistance phone calls or e-mails were fielded. Resulting sales totaled $2,689.14.(Contact: A. Lecouris)

Seven New Maps and Reports Released

The following new publications were released this month:

Geologic quadrangle maps

Grimley, D.A., 2005, Surficial Geology of Pingree Grove Quadrangle, Kane County, Illinois: Illinois State Geological Survey, Illinois Geologic Quadrangle Map, IGQ Pingree Grove-SG, 1:24,000.

Stumpf, A.J., and Weibel, C.P., 2005, Surficial Geology of Spring Bay Quadrangle, Peoria and Woodford Counties, Illinois: Illinois State Geological Survey, IGQ Spring Bay-SG, 1:24,000.

Weibel, C.P., 2005, Bedrock Topography of Vincennes Quadrangle, Knox County, Indiana, and Lawrence County, Illinois: Illinois State Geological Survey, Illinois Preliminary Geologic Map, IPGM Vincennes-BT, 1:24,000.

Weibel, C.P., 2005, Drift Thickness of Vincennes Quadrangle, Knox County, Indiana, and Lawrence County, Illinois: Illinois State Geological Survey, Illinois Preliminary Geologic Map, IPGM Vincennes-DT, 1:24,000.

Other reports released this month

Chrzastowski, M.J., 2005, Chicagoland—Shaped by Ice and Water (poster): Illinois State Geological Survey, Champaign, full color, 24 × 36 inches.

Illinois State Geological Survey, 2005, How to Read Illinois Topographic Maps. Illinois State Geological Survey, Geoscience Education Series 20, 28 p. (7.8M PDF file available on our Web site.) http://www.isgs.illinois.edu/education/pdf-files/topo-map-guide-sm.pdf

Shofner, G.A., K. Hart-Carstens, and K.W. Carr, 2005, Level II Hydrogeologic Characterization Report: Edgewood and Larkinsburg Sites, near Edgewood, Illinois, Effingham and Clay Counties (Federal Aid Program 328 Sequence Numbers 391 and 10469): Illinois State Geological Survey, Open File Series, OFS 2005-10, 38 p.

Highlights Archive

Updated 07/18/2012 SLD