Washington
DC Office
307 Dirksen Senate
Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: 202-224-6441
Fax: 202-224-1724
Wyoming Office
P.O. Box 22201
Casper, WY 82602
307-261-6413
|
|
| |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Contact: Cameron Hardy
202-224-6441 |
 |
|
| |
Thomas Sets Plan in Motion For Wyoming IGCC Plant
Wyoming, California Senators Building Support Among Various Stakeholders |
| |
 |
| U.S. Sens. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., listen to participants at a meeting September 19, 2006 to discuss ways to get an IGCC power plant up and running in Wyoming. The two senators are building support to seek ways to site an IGCC plant in Wyoming that can deliver cleanly generated electricity to California. |
September 19th, 2006 - WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.) and Dianne Feinstein, (D-Calif.) hosted a meeting today with Wyoming and California stakeholders looking to site an IGCC power plant in Wyoming that can also sequester carbon dioxide emissions.
“This is the first in a series of meetings to establish a vision for how to achieve clean coal electricity generation using Section 413 of the Energy Policy Act to jumpstart the process,” Thomas said.
“I’m certainly pleased to have Senator Feinstein on board in this effort to get an IGCC plant up and running in Wyoming so we can deliver clean power to the California market.”
Thomas called the meeting this morning to establish a broad coalition of partners who can make an IGCC power plant in Wyoming a reality.
“Most importantly, this meeting is about building an IGCC power plant in Wyoming that can deliver environmentally friendly power to the California market.” But Thomas noted, “There are a number of related issues, of course, including transmission lines, technological hurdles, additional incentives, and interstate cooperation that must also be addressed.”
A 200 megawatt IGCC power plant is expected to cost between $500 and 600 million to construct. Section 413 of EPACT allows for a 50/50 cost share between a private company and the federal government to construct a plant of this size.
Thomas included Section 413 in EPACT so the plant would be built in Wyoming, using Powder River Basin coal, and at an altitude above 4,000 feet.
“In order to get this effort up and running we will need sufficient funds to guarantee that the plant is both built in Wyoming and has the ability to sequester carbon emissions,” Thomas said.
“Dianne not only has a great deal of influence on the Senate Appropriations Committee, but she also represents a state with enormous electricity demand. Having her as a partner in this effort is critical,” Thomas said.
“While carbon sequestration increases the cost of a plant, it also creates opportunities to work with Senator Feinstein in the near term to establish a cooperative relationship to reach the goal of building this IGCC plant in Wyoming,” Thomas explained.
As a first step, Thomas and Feinstein will look to fund a study to prove that carbon sequestration will be viable with Wyoming’s geology.
“I believe it’s extremely important that California participate in this study with Wyoming. For that reason, I am proposing that the Department of Energy establish a cooperative research program between the University of Wyoming and the University of California.”
The Department of Energy has a significant role to play as well, Thomas said. In addition to technical assistance, the Wyoming senator has urged DOE to include sufficient funding to begin implementation of Section 413 in their 2008 budget request.
By providing half of the requisite funding for the project, Section 413 mitigates private sector financial exposure significantly. Thomas has suggested that companies consider working together in order to build an IGCC plant in Wyoming to increase the likelihood of success.
The meeting included these participants:
Craig Thomas U.S. Senator
Dianne Feinstein U.S. Senator
Jeff Jarrett Assistant Secretary of Fossil Energy at DOE
Bill Fehrman President of PacifiCorp Energy
Ron Harper Chief Executive Officer of Basin Electric
Steve Waddington Executive Director of the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority
Peter Darbee Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Gas & Electric
John Bryson Chairman of Southern California Edison
Dian Grueneich California Public Utilities Commissioner
Mike Peavey California Public Utilities Commissioner
###
|
|
|
|
|
