New low-emissions power plant to
use waste coal
By MARTHA BRYSON HODEL
Associated Press Writer
Published June 7, 2004
ANJEAN, W.Va. --
A once-abandoned coal mine refuse pile in southern West Virginia will provide
the fuel for a new power plant that is among eight commercial-scale clean coal
projects nationwide financed by the federal government.
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham came to West Virginia on Monday to announce the
project, which the Bush administration says will produce electricity using coal
filtered from the 40-acre waste pile at Anjean in western Greenbrier County.
"This project helps us put some substance into the Clean
Coal Technology program," Abraham said. "It will use low-cost coal
while solving a significant environmental problem."
The plant will be the first commercial scale operation using fluidized bed
technology, in which coal is pulverized into a slurry and run through a bed of
limestone ash. The ash absorbs sulfur from the coal.
The plant will return fly ash, which is alkaline, to the Anjean pile to
neutralize acid runoff from the site.
"The Anjean coal pile is the worst of the worst when it comes to acid mine
drainage problems in West Virginia," said Wayne Brown, president and CEO of
Western Greenbrier Co-Generation, which will build and operate the plant.
The plant also will burn wood waste from local forestry operations, which will
be combined with coal combustion ash to produce up to 10,000 bricks per day. The
so-called "Woodbrik" can be used in the building industry.
Enough electricity will be generated by the plant to power 85,000 homes. It also
will support an "eco-park" that will use waste heat from the plant's
steam generation to help produce crops such as talapia, a marketable fish.
The project is estimated to cost $215 million, of which the U.S. Department of
Energy will pay $107 million. The rest of the funding will come from the county,
the state and tax-free bonds.
Sen. Robert C. Byrd said Abraham's announcement was the latest in a string of
events in which the Bush administration was trying to take credit for a program
it planned to cut or eliminate.
"It is unconscionable for the Bush administration to claim to be a champion
of Clean Coal Technology on one hand, while using the other hand to slash vital
funds and jobs from coal and energy research," said Byrd, a West Virginia
Democrat. "It is little more than a fraud begin played out on the people of
West Virginia and this county."
Byrd said President Bush's proposed fossil fuel research and development budget
for next year would reduce current spending by $186 million.
Brown said 17 months of additional design work must be done before construction
of the plant begins. The plant is expected to begin operating in the spring of
2008.
Western Greenbrier Co-Generation does not have a buyer for the plant's
electricity but expects to have a sale before construction begins, Brown said.
Monday's appearance in Lewisburg was Abraham's second visit to West Virginia
this year. He came to Consol Energy Inc.'s Loveridge Mine near Fairmont in
February to announce the resumption of production. The mine was closed in
February 2003 because of a fire.
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©2004 The Daily Press