Apr 14 - Portland Press Herald

It likely will be three years before plans to build coal gasification plants surface again in Wiscasset or any other part of Maine.

Legislation signed by Gov. John Baldacci last week imposes a three-year moratorium on construction of the plants anywhere in the state.

David Littell, commissioner for the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, said the law puts an end to whatever plans the Twin River Energy Center might have had for a gasification plant in Wiscasset.

"It was a clear statement by our Legislature that they do not want coal gasification plants in the state now," Littell said.

The new law gives the DEP until Aug. 1, 2011, to develop standards governing the emission and capture of carbon dioxide - a major contributor to global warming - though Littell said it could take even longer than that.

The law, sponsored by state Rep. Bruce MacDonald, D-Boothbay, prohibits the DEP from issuing licenses to a coal gasification plant project until those standards are in place.

"For the midcoast, this means the Twin River project is dead," said Steve Hinchman, an attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation in Brunswick, which led the fight against the proposed coal gasification plant in Wiscasset.

Last November, Wiscasset voters rejected a change to the town's building height restrictions by a vote of 868-707.

The change would have permitted construction of a plant that exceeded the zone's 60-foot height limit.

The proposed $1.5 billion Twin River project needed the height waiver to build a 230-foot tall plant.

But even after the vote, Scott Houldin, Twin River's principal, said his company would consider coming back to Wiscasset with a revised plan.

Houldin did not return phone calls to his office on Friday.

Littell said he was contacted last week by an out-of-state developer asking about the feasibility of building a coal gasification plant in Millinocket.

The developer was unaware of the Legislature's actions.

Littell said it is likely it will take his department at least three years to develop greenhouse gas emission standards.

Hinchman said the Twin River Energy Center project never had a plan for sequestering the carbon dioxide its plant would have produced.

Sequestering is a technology used to capture carbon dioxide emissions and to inject those emissions back into the earth.

Under the new law, coal plant developers would be required to develop a plan for capturing the gas.

"This fight in Wiscasset exposed a giant loophole in Maine law," Hinchman said. "This is a great win for Wiscasset and for the people of Maine."

Staff Writer Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 386-0320 or at:

dhoey@pressherald.com

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