Industrial Alliance expected to decide host site by September

Galen Scott

gscott@weatherforddemocrat.com

Texas has one-upped the state of Illinois again in the battle to win FutureGen, the U.S. Department of Energy’s experimental mega-power plant.

Gov. Rick Perry announced a $20 million funding commitment Monday, which significantly boosts Texas’ effort to win the federal gasification and carbon capture demonstration project.

The $1 billion, near-zero emissions power plant is designed to gasify a variety of fossil fuels and produce an estimated 275 megawatts of electricity.

Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael L. Williams, who also chairs the FutureGen Texas Advisory Board, noted that Texas leaders are particularly interested in finding a solution for improving air emissions from power plants.

“As the global debate surrounding coal-fueled power plant emissions escalates, no other state in the nation is more cognizant of these issues than Texas,” Williams said. “That is why the federal FutureGen Initiative is so critical to the future of our state.”

Texas lawmakers are currently embroiled in debate over whether TXU Power should be allowed to move forward with plans to build 11 new coal-fired power plants. According to the Dallas-based energy company’s proposals, the new power plants would discharge approximately 78 million tons of carbon dioxide per year.

In step with a number of leading climate change scientists, FutureGen spokesman Chuck McDonald, in May, identified carbon dioxide as the driver of global warming.

On top of a significant reduction in the amount of carbon dioxide produced during the power generation process, FutureGen supporters point out the project’s secondary objective, to capture as many as one million tons of carbon dioxide per year and store it deep beneath the earth’s surface.

Last summer, the Texas Legislature passed a bill granting the Texas Railroad Commission title to stored carbon dioxide associated with FutureGen. Liability for any problems associated with the gas was also assumed by the state, which further tipped the scales in favor of Texas landing the project.

According to McDonald, part of the FutureGen project’s future plan could include selling the gas to energy companies interested in using carbon dioxide to enhance mineral recovery operations. House Bill 149 specifically states proceeds from the sale of carbon dioxide associated with the project are to be deposited in the state’s general fund.

In 2003, the production of a special report called “Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage” was authorized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The report was produced as a guide for policy makers dealing with the issue of carbon dioxide.

Though risks associated with pipeline transport of carbon dioxide were found to be relatively low and comparable to those associated with the transport of natural gas, the report stated, “a sudden and large release of CO2 would pose immediate dangers to human life and health, if there were exposure to concentrations of CO2 greater than 7 to 10 percent-by-volume in air.”

At the time Texas assumed future liability for FutureGen carbon dioxide, Texas was competing with Ohio, Kentucky, North Dakota, West Virginia, Illinois and Wyoming to win the project. The list of finalists has since been culled, leaving Illinois as Texas’ sole FutureGen competitor.

Along with two sites in Illinois, Texas has two of the final four sites in national competition — one near Odessa in the Permian Basin and the other near Jewett in the Heart of the Brazos region.

A news release from the Governor’s Office called Perry’s $20 million commitment the first step in an effort to pass an aggressive package of financial and other incentives during the 80th Texas Legislature.

But even if Texas doesn’t win the project, State Geologist Scott Tinker said Texas will still benefit from the state’s effort to secure FutureGen.

“Because of the tremendous work and talent our state has devoted to the FutureGen pursuit, Texas is positioned as a premiere authority in clean coal technology,” Tinker said. “We must continue to dedicate resources to this effort in order to discover how to generate clean energy from coal in an economically feasible manner.”

Since the national shortlist announcement, FutureGen Texas, assisted by numerous environmental consulting organizations, supplied extensive data sets intended to form the basis for Federal NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) environmental impact assessments of both sites. The Department of Energy expects to complete the NEPA process by July 30, 2007.

The FutureGen Industrial Alliance, a consortium of nine private companies with interests in the energy industry, along with the U.S. Department of Energy, are funding FutureGen and will decide whether or not the experiment should be built in Texas.

The Alliance announced it plans to select the FutureGen host site by September of this year.

State Rep. Phil King (R-Weatherford) chairs the House Regulated Industries Committee, which oversees electric utility regulation as it relates to energy production and consumption.

This week, King said FutureGen was still 15 years away.

However, he acknowledged coal gasification is a potentially viable technology and said the state is looking at the process closely.