May 18--A company that announced in 2005 that it would build a renewable-energy plant that could convert animal waste into electricity has applied for a permit to build. But it won't be a renewable-energy plant.

EnviroDyne Corp. plans to build a natural gas-based plant on 156 acres of what's now agricultural land southwest of Wendell in the Magic Valley. According to the 98-page application with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, the plant would produce about 12 megawatts of electricity, 10 of which could be sold to Idaho Power Co. A pipeline extension will carry the gas to the proposed plant that will house five combustion engines, several buildings and a 32-foot-high stack. A 12,000 gallon tank will store diesel fuel that's used to ignite the gas. The plant could emit about 222 tons of carbon monoxide each year -- less than the 250 tons that would classify the plant as a major polluter under government rules.

But according to the application, the plant could become greener in the future. Each of the five engines could run on biodiesel produced from blue-green algae.