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WMPI in great position for funding, Holden says
The Pottsville (PA) Republican & Evening Herald
Saturday October 7, 2000
Congress this week approved $95 million for clean-coal technology, and John W. Rich Jr. believes he
can get enough of it to make a $312 million futuristic coal-to-oil plant on the Broad Mountain a reality.
"I'm confident," Rich said Friday. He is president of Waste Management Processors Inc.,
which has partnered with Sasol Ltd., the South African energy behomoth; Bechtel, the international
construction giant; and Texaco.
Rich is in "a great position" to get a piece of the new money, U.S. Rep. T. Timothy Holden,
D-6, said Friday, although he cautioned that the Department of Energy (DOE) will be soliciting projects
and the local effort is not assured full funding.
According to Holden, U.S. Sens. Rich Santorum and Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republicans,
inserted the language in the annual Interior Department bill and he then obtained similar language in the
House version.
Once the bill is signed by President Clinton, DOE will have 120 days to solicit proposals.
Companies will have 90 days after the issuance of the request for proposals to submit their plans,
and the Department of Energy will make project selections within 160 days after the proposals are received,
according to the legislation.
The language in the Interior Appropriations Conference Report, HR 4578, says that
"The managers have agreed to fund a power plant improvement initiative that will demonstrate
advanced coal-based technologies applicable to new power plants, including co-production plants,
for example, plants that produce heat, electric power and liquid fuels, and new technologies
such as the introduction of coal fines into fuel streams at power plants."
"This pulls us right into it, if not at the forefront," said Rich, who then
quoted the rest of the language in theat paragraph.
"The managers expect that there will be at least a 50 percent industry cost share for each of
these projects, and that the program will focus on technology that can be commercialized over the
next few years. Such demonstrations must advance the efficiency, environmental controls and cost-competitiveness of the
coal-fired plant well beyond that which is in operation now or has been demonstrated to date."
"If you read between the lines, they are talking about the coal-production plant," Rich said.
He went on to say that there is language in the bill that "facilitates nicely what we are trying to accomplish.
In effect ther is a commitment at the federal level."
Rich said that other people can compete for the $95 million, but he likes WMPI's chances.
If all goes well, Rich expects to break ground in spring 2002, and the plant would be
completed by spring 2004.
Rich said that construction of the plant could take place if he gets $87 million in federal funds.
He already had $46 million in tax credits from the state, approved in May 1999.
The promise of federal funds and tax credits would create 43% percent of the capital costs of the project.
Rich thinks he would be able to go into the private market to raise the rest of the funding.
"The consumer is the beneficiary ultimately," he said.
The $95 million was part of a bevy of good appropriation news from Capitol Hill this week:
$12 million was specified for mine-land reclamation in northeastern Pennsylvania, money that would
be shared among three congressional districts: Holden's and U.S. Reps. Paul E.
Kanjorski, the
Wilkes-Barre Democrat, and Donald Sherwood, the Scranton Republican.
$200,000 to jump-start the Schuylkill river National Heritage Area, which was designated at
Holden's initiative the week before.
$400,000 was earmarked for computerized technolgy that will upgrade Schuylkill Transportation
System's service delivery by improving fleet management capabilities and vehicle deployment.