Enviros Challenge Proposed Coal Gasification Power Plant

SEATTLE, Washington, September 20, 2007 (ENS) - Public power agency Energy Northwest is moving forward with plans to construct a 680-megawatt coal gasification power plant at the Port of Kalama in southwestern Washington state.

The consortium of publicly owned utilities has asked the state’s Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council to hold adjudicatory hearings in late October, followed by a recommendation on the project by the end of December and a decision by the governor in early 2008.

Unlike conventional coal plants that burn coal, Energy Northwest says the new power plant would produce "a clean-burning, hydrogen-rich synthesis gas from petroleum coke, coal or other solid feedstocks. The technology allows for the reduction or removal of carbon dioxide and pollutants often associated with power plant emissions."

But three environmental and clean energy groups say emissions from the new plant would equal the emissions of some 100,000 additional cars on Washington roads.

The groups have filed to intervene in the permitting process and are urging members of the public to insist that state regulators reject Energy Northwest's permit application.

The organizations - the Washington Environmental Council, the Sierra Club's Cascade chapter, and NW Energy Coalition - all represented by attorneys from the nonprofit law firm Earthjustice, say utility's plan for the new facility shows it would emit as much as six million tons of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide a year.

"This is a 19th century solution to a 21st-century problem," said Earthjustice attorney Steve Mashuda. "People in the Northwest want bold action to turn the tide on global warming, not more polluting fossil-fuel technology."

This year, Washington Governor Christine Gregoire issued climate protection goals and the state enacted a new law entitled “Mitigating the impacts of climate change” that took effect July 22. The law sets strict limits on the amount of greenhouse gases that can be emitted by new Washington power plants.

To meet these standards, the groups say, Energy Northwest would have to capture and permanently store, or sequester, a third to a half of the plant's carbon emissions.

Energy Northwest officials say the new power plant, called the Pacific Mountain Energy Center, "will be a valuable tool in advancing nationwide efforts to develop permanent in-ground carbon storage."

The utility is part of the Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Partnership, a effort funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to develop and promote permanent, large-scale carbon dioxide sequestration.

But the groups say Energy Northwest is already attempting to get out of sequestering carbon dioxide emissions.

The new state law gives power plant developers five years from date of operation to begin sequestering carbon dioxide, but it requires submission of an acceptable, technically feasible and good-faith sequestration plan as part of the permit application process.

The groups maintain that Energy Northwest has submitted "only a rationale for not doing a sequestration plan and a vague promise to submit such a plan should sequestration become viable sometime in the future."

The state attorney general's office called the plan "deficient" and "vague," and the state Department of Ecology urged the site evaluation committee to reject Energy Northwest's application.

"The proponent's flimsy analysis doesn't explain how the plant could operate without pumping a lot more global warming pollution into our air," said Washington Environmental Council climate campaign director Becky Kelley. "Washington passed a Clean Energy Initiative last fall, and we should start promoting renewable sources now instead of firing up a new coal plant."

Energy Northwest Project Manager Ted Beatty said the new facility will have a beneficial impact on wind power development. "The region’s power supply is already challenged to absorb the amount of intermittent wind power already in place, he said. "Adding additional full-time power from a facility like Pacific Mountain Energy Center will allow the integration of more wind, solar and other intermittent power."

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2007. All rights reserved.