Washington Post: A small Illinois town was chosen as the site of the world’s first near-zero-emissions coal-burning plant Tuesday by the public-private alliance carrying out the project. Construction of the plant continues to be delayed, however, by concerns over its costs. Mattoon, Ill., beat out another Illinois contender and two Texas towns as the home for the FutureGen plant, which will use the coal-gasification process to produce electricity and commercial-grade hydrogen, capturing and storing …