Four states join together to lure "zero emissions" power plant

Four states join together to lure "zero emissions" power plant

Washington (Platts)--6Apr2006

Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and West Virginia are negotiating a "cooperative
agreement" in their bid to attract the $1 billion FutureGen "zero emissions"
coal-fired power plant, officials said Wednesday.

Ohio Governor Bob Taft "has reached out to neighboring states and we're in the
process of negotiating a cooperative agreement," Mark Shanahan, executive
director of the Ohio Air Quality Development Authority, told Platts.

While he declined to discuss specifics of the proposed accord, Shanahan
indicated the four states would support one another and work together in
developing the 275-MW FutureGen plant.

May 4 is the deadline for proposals to be submitted to the FutureGen
Industrial Alliance. Under the project's rules, joint applications are not
allowed. But there is nothing to prevent several states from entering into a
mutually beneficial compact to assist one another in landing and building the
plant, Shanahan said.

Mike Carey, president of the Ohio Coal Association and a member of Ohio's
FutureGen Task Force, agreed that a cooperative venture would produce
"regional benefits" for the four states.

On Tuesday, the Ohio task force selected two sites in Meigs and Tuscarawas
counties as the state's finalists. Both sites "are located in the Ohio
coalfields, which is nice," Carey said.

The task force considered "several really good sites," said Jackie Bird,
director of the Ohio Coal Development Office. In the end, it boiled down to
geology and infrastructure. "These look to be the best of the bunch. They have
the geology and the top site infrastructure needed for a power plant of this
nature."

Meigs and Tuscarawas counties are believed to offer the best promise for
successful carbon sequestration, another important facet of the project.

Sites in Meigs County along the Ohio River already are preferred locations for
American Municipal Power-Ohio's proposed 1,000-MW coal-fired power plant and
American Electric Power's 600-MW integrated gasification combined-cycle
project. The Ohio Public Utilities Commission had been scheduled Wednesday to
rule on AEP's request for assurances it will be able to recover the entire
$1.3 billion cost of the project, but the decision was postponed until April
10.

For more information, take a trial to Platts Coal Trader at
http://www.coaltrader.platts.com.

Please visit: www.platts.com

Their coverage of energy matters is extensive!!.