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Nation's first coal waste to clean fuel project slated for
Pennsylvania gets big boost in National Energy Security Act
Waste Management and Processors, Inc. Facility in Schuylkill County Will
Produce Zero-Sulfur, Low Particulate Diesel Fuel - Just What New EPA
Rules Call For
News Release
Friday May 19, 2000
GILBERTON, Pa (May 19) -- The nation's first proposed facility to convert coal waste or culm
and silt to a clean diesel-like liquid fuel moved a step closer to reality this week when authorization
for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to help fund construction of the project was included in
the National Energy Security Act of 2000.
Ironically, the Waste Management and Processors, Inc.
(WMPI) project will gasify and liquefy
Pennsylvania Anthracite culm and silt into a zero-sulfur, low particulate, high energy diesel fuel.
That's precisely what the nation's truckers and other big diesel consumers will need to help them meet
stringent new emissions rules proposed Wednesday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Under a provision of the National Energy Security Act advocated by U.S. Senator Rick Santorum
(R-PA), the Secretary of DOE will be authorized to provide grants for the refinement and
demonstration of new technologies for the conversion of coal to liquids. The Santorum provision also
allows for DOE to make grants for the design and construction of an indirect liquefaction plant like
that proposed by WMPI for Schuylkill County, capable of producing clean liquid fuel in commercial
quantities. Sen. Santorum is a member of the Senate Energy Task Force.
The comprehensive National Energy Security Act of 2000 was introduced in the Senate this week
by Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R- MS) and Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman
Frank Murkowski (R-AK).
"We appreciate the hard work and recognition by Sen. Santorum that our project fits perfectly
into the goals of the National Energy Security Act," noted WMPI president John W. Rich Jr. "Using
a proven, environmentally-friendly technology, our facility will reclaim what is now unusable and
environmentally damaging culm banks, converting what is now coal waste into a clean liquid fuel.
Senator Santorum's efforts to include a funding stream for federal participation in construction of our
project is a big boost," Rich said.
The WMPI project calls for construction of a $312 million culm liquefaction facility. Endorsed by
Pennsylvania state environmental and economic development officials, the project previously
received approval from the state legislature and Governor Tom Ridge for $46.8 million in state tax
credits, predicated on a federal funding package. The Santorum provision in the National Energy
Security Act would allow federal funding for part of the construction costs of the project.
A previously approved $7.8 million cost-share from DOE's National Energy Technology
Laboratory in Pittsburgh, together with WMPI monies, will be used for the estimated $12 million in
up-front studies, engineering and permitting necessary before actual construction can begin.
Rich noted the "ironic coincidence" of the National Energy Security Act being introduced in the
Senate at the same time the federal Environmental Protection Agency announced proposed strict
new regulations requiring significant reductions in sulfur and particulate emissions from diesel-fueled
vehicles.
"Since our project will produce a zero-sulfur,
high-cetane diesel fuel low in aromatics and
particulates, it is precisely what is needed to help meet EPA's proposed new rulemaking," Rich
explained. "Helping reduce diesel emissions using a 'home grown' energy resource like Anthracite culm
rather than imported oil makes this a timely project for the country and for the environment," he
said.
The WMPI "ultraclean fuels" project will be located in
Gilberton, Schuylkill County and is
intended to produce 1,000 construction jobs, 150 permanent jobs and 600 secondary (support) jobs in
the center of Pennsylvania's depressed Anthracite coal region. Following a three-to-four-year
construction period, the plant will produce about 5,000 barrels per day of the clear liquid diesel fuel.
Sold to energy companies under long-term fixed price contracts, the fuel can then be blended into the
existing diesel infrastructure without changing diesel engine specifications.
At full operation, the plant will process an estimated 1 million tons of Anthracite culm and silt a
year into 1.8 million barrels of clean liquid fuel. Huge banks of Anthracite culm - spoils from a
once-thriving coal industry that fueled the industrial revolution - now make an estimated 120,000
acres in Eastern Pennsylvania unusable and are environmentally harmful.
"Think of this as a major environmental reclamation project, which just happens to produce the
clean domestic fuel this nation needs in the process," Rich concluded, noting the technology
demonstrated by the WMPI project can easily be transferred to other states that have coal waste
piles.