A US$4- billion coal- to- liquid plant will be constructed by River Clean Fuels LLC at the Wellsville Intermodal Industrial Park, operated by the Columbiana County Port Authority in eastern Ohio.

Click to see full-sized version of above photo (486k, 2100 x 1380). by ADAM BRUNS adam.bruns bounce@conway.com

T

he electrical current provided by the many power plants along the length of the Ohio River continues to lure more projects. But the energy sector itself may produce the river corridor's biggest catch.
   In early October, officials with the Columbiana County Port Authority, located at the northernmost bend in the Ohio, signed a memorandum of understanding with Ohio
   River Clean Fuels LLC, an affiliate of Vancouver, Wash.- based Baard Energy LLC, for the construction of a US$4- billion coal- to- liquid plant to make jet and diesel fuel, expected to come on line by 2011 at the earliest. Among the candidate sites for the project was a parcel in Ashtabula, Ohio, near Lake Erie.
   Tracy Drake, CEO of the port authority as well as co- chair of the Ohio Council of Port Authorities and the Ohio River Basin Initiative for Trade, Transportation and Tourism, says the company had been looking for the past couple of years, and had begun working with the port authority over the past year. The project will rise on a 700- acre (283- hectare) site adjacent to the intermodal facility the port authority is about to complete.
   "We are completing the last phase of construction, which is a dock and crane system," says Drake of the $20- million construction project. "It should be finished by next summer at the latest." Approximately $1 million of the construction funding comes from the Appalachian Regional Commission, for which federal reauthorization is still pending in the U.S. House of Representatives (see sidebar).
   Land at the other end of that intermodal facility, currently leased to Buckeye Industrial Mining, an affiliate of Denver- based Evergreen Energy, will be reconfigured to handle coal. Drake says Buckeye was in the process of developing a coal transshipment area there already.
   Drake says the coal- to- liquid plant will take 7 million tons of coal a year. And because the process doesn't burn the coal, Ohio's own 24 million tons of largely high- sulfur, high- BTU coal is likely to be the main source. The technology was invented by German engineers prior to World War II, and was used by both Germany and England to produce fuel for their war efforts. The technology was sold to South Africa, which since the 1950s has used it as a predominant source of fuel. Drake says, "it's costly, but since the cost of oil has gone up so much, it's viable. And the fuel it produces is almost across the board better than petroleum- based refined fuel. It's biodegradable, it burns better – it's kind of a super fuel."
   That northernmost point of the river was part of the reason Columbiana County's port was chosen, says Drake, as it's situated in the geographic center of some large markets. Close proximity to two Interstates, the river and a Norfolk Southern mainline straight to the Conway yard in Pittsburgh helped too. Also contributing to the site selection were the distance from the coast (to avoid potential storm interruptions of operations) and proximity to the coal.
   Drake says the plant will allow the port authority to put in all the infrastructure to allow additional development around the plant site, which the authority had already planned for in any case. Ancillary spinoff activity from the plant may choose to take advantage of its excess power and its synthetic natural gas byproduct. "We're already getting inquiries from groups interested in the project and the location," says Drake. It's a matter of maintaining an orderly process, so we do this in a correct manner that provides the highest and best use."
   Environmental permitting has just begun. Drake says that could take up to a year and a half, followed by a projected three years of construction. He says the project has received support from the Ohio Dept. of Development, the state's executive and legislative leadership and the state's federal delegation.
   Baard's ultimate plan may include installation of a commercial energy plant at that site.
   Meanwhile, the blockbuster project fits perfectly into the visions of multiple regional economic development organizations. The ARC has just issued an energy industry development plan, and the Southern States Energy Board just issued its "American Energy Security Study" in July that called coal- to- liquid a vital part of a potential U.S. industrial boom that could see direct new energy sector investments of up to $200 billion by 2030.