U.S. Senator Larry Craig paid a visit to the Power County Courthouse last week to discuss plans for the proposed coal-gasification plant.
John Burke, a representative of Southeast Idaho Energy (SIE), thanked the senator for taking the time to hear more about the plant.
“We appreciate your interest in the project,” Burke told the senator.
Burke told the senator that SIE has lined up investors for the project, which he said will require $100 million in funding before construction can begin.
“We’re in good shape financially,” Burke told the senator.
Plans have changed on the proposed plant, Burke said, with the first being to defer the production of diesel fuel until Phase II of the project.
The second change, Burke said, was the decision to purchase power for the plant rather than have the plant produce its own power.
“We’re feeling good about that arrangement,” he said. “Not making the power will decrease emissions, which were low anyway.”
Burke said SIE is in the process of obtaining an air permit from the Department of Environmental Quality.
“We have a good working relationship with DEQ,” he said, adding that changes to the project’s scope required amendments to the air permit application. “We’re hopeful of getting the air permit by late fall, but that’s not the driver to starting construction.”
The driver, Burke said, was a $30 million study needed prior to construction. The study, called FEED (Front End Engineering and Design) is expected to begin in April or June and end in March of 2009.
“Will fertilizer be your main product?” the senator asked Burke.
“In Phase I that will be our only product,” Burke said. He added that the plant does want to produce diesel fuel, but that will wait until Phase II.
“There are some good possibilities out there,” Burke said on producing diesel fuel, “but it makes sense to put that (on hold) for a while until we get a handle on it.”
“What would be the CO2 footprint here?” Craig asked. “What will you release?”
Burke said those numbers aren’t yet known for sure, but that preliminary findings suggested the facility would produce up to two million tons of CO2 a year. He said other numbers show the facility would produce 200,000 tons of CO2 a year that the plant could not capture.
Burke told Craig that SIE would like the advantage of federally-offered energy credits.
Craig said the federal government will not likely finish a bill for carbon trading this year. He explained that no one on either side of the issue seems interested in getting the bill done right away. For instance, Craig said environmentalists seem content to wait until a more liberal government comes to office.
“They’re waiting until (the liberals) come to town and we’ll get a more stringent, rigid plan,” Craig said.
Craig said he’s working to get agriculture involved in the credit trading by measuring outputs. He said this will be a huge financial boon in coming years.
“My guess is anybody that can demonstrate a substantial amount of carbon capture will be an asset,” Craig said. “Clean energy is the name of the game today.”
Craig said the ever-increasing cost of energy is beneficial to companies like SIE.
“The price of energy has helped all of us in the sense of investment and research,” the senator said, adding that the country needs to move forward with energy projects. “(Billions) are being spent every year out of the country.”
Craig then asked Burke when the company would begin building the plant if everything went smoothly.
Burke replied that the schedule is subject to change, but 2010 would be the earliest and that “really is a guess at this time.”
“And what would be your peek work force?” Craig asked, to which he was told 1,000 during construction and 150 when the plant was operational.
Power County resident Bill Meadows also attended the meeting and said he believes that the project is not seen as credible to outside agencies. Craig said that could be the fault of public relations (PR).
“Often times, we get so interested in the work at hand that we forget the PR side,” Craig said. “We need to be sensitive to PR because it does shape public opinion.”
Craig suggested that everyone backing the project needed to keep promoting the plant, through public meetings, informative brochures, etc.
“Just keep at it... The public is willing to listen now more than they have in the past,” Craig said of proposing coal-gasification to the public. “New facilities need to be clean. You’re not going to build a coal-fired plant anywhere in the U.S. until you get the carbon scrubbed down.”
At the end of the meeting, Craig said that after his political career he hopes to write a book on the future of energy in the country.