Study evaluates Interior's fuel plant plans
Published Thursday, November 27, 2008
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FAIRBANKS — Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Jim Whitaker said he is pleased with the results of a feasibility study on a proposed coal-to-liquid fuel plant here, but added that many questions remain to be answered.
He joined other elected officials in discussions with a Hatch Ltd. engineering team from Toronto, which was in Fairbanks to discuss the study with Fairbanks Economic Development Corporation.
Hatch was hired in May to evaluate the basic feasibility of building a plant that would turn coal into liquid fuels, including synthetic fuels used by the U.S. Air Force. Whitaker and FEDC leaders have promoted the project as a way to secure the future of Eielson Air Force Base, offer alternatives to expensive oil-based home heating fuels and alleviate growing air quality concerns with potentially costly consequences to the local economy. The plant could cost between $7 billion and $10 billion.
The $550,000 report was funded with a $300,000 state appropriation to FEDC and $250,000 from the Fairbanks North Star Borough. The study represents less than 5 percent of the total engineering that would go into the project.
“There are some challenges, but we may be able to actually pull this off, given some time and continued effort,” Whitaker said. “Are we close to having a resolution and being able to move something forward definitively? No, we’re not. But we didn’t hit an absolute road block.”
Others disagree and say the price tag coupled with technology unproven in an arctic environment are major road blocks.
Several Interior legislators and local officials met with the Hatch team on Wednesday.
Rep. Jay Ramras, a Fairbanks Republican, said he was overwhelmed with sticker shock for the plant. As set out, the project will not win the support of the Legislature, he said.
“We have a choice of doing unproved coal-to-liquids at Eielson, versus the Susitna hydroelectric project, which would benefit all of Alaska,” he said. “I think the coal-to-liquids would get TKO’d in the first round.”
Ramras instead suggested a smaller-scale plant that would cost much less and could quell fears that the technology would fall short of promised performance.
Rep. David Guttenberg, a Fairbanks Democrat, said FEDC has some hurdles in convincing people that coal-to-liquids technology works and can be implemented on the proposed scale. If proponents can, the project could be a way to secure greater energy independence in Alaska.
“There are people in this community, and I’m one of them, who would go a long way down the road to make sure something like this happened,” Guttenberg said. “But, you can’t sell me a pipe dream. You have to have a real project.”
He urged project advocates to reach out to more of the community, pitching the plan as one that could solidify Eielson’s future while offering a secure jet fuel supply to Anchorage and offering some degree of energy relief.
That could be a tough sell as things sit now, he said.
“Just down the road, we’ve got an experimental power plant that’s not running,” Guttenberg said, referencing the mothballed clean coal plant at Healy that some say fell short of expectations. “We can’t be building another pipe dream.”
Despite the lingering questions, Hatch gasification group leader William Davey said the Fairbanks plan has a lot going for it.
Coal is readily available and cheap, the U.S. Air Force is a ready market for the end product and Davey said he sees potential in turning carbon dioxide by-product from a liability into a commodity in Alaska.
“I think you also have a government that has the resources to possibly invest in a project of this nature, at least partially, and that is a great advantage,” Davey said. “There are a lot of factors which to me suggest that this project could have a life.”
But those whom FEDC are looking to for support said they need more details and better assurances.
“We have to go through the next phase to find out more particulars,” North Pole Mayor Doug Isaacson said.
Project proponents will need to come up with $7 million to $10 million more for a second-stage feasibility study that would provide site-specific engineering and a stronger picture to sell to investors and others.
FEDC spokesman Charles Fedullo said the group will solicit support from the Legislature and Gov. Sarah Palin’s office and try to secure a partnership with the U.S. Air Force. Sen. Ted Stevens helped add $10 million to an Air Force budget for coal-to-liquids studies in conjunction with a local partner. While that money isn’t marked for Eielson or Fairbanks, the assumption is that it will flow this way, Whitaker said.
He and FEDC say the coal-to-liquids plant could address two increasingly critical concerns in the Interior — the high cost of home heating and other fuels and the risks associated with more stringent air quality issues.
If Fairbanks can’t meet those federal standards, the area risks losing Eielson Air Force Base, growth at Fort Wainwright and other economic drivers, Whitaker and FEDC say.
Community Discussion
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This is an obvious waste of money. What is even more sad, is that this is just the pork that we know about. How much more is there that we don't hear about.
Rep. Ramras is 100% correct. Spend 10 billion on a unproven coal plant, or a similar amount on a hydroelectric project that gives us cheap, renewable, pollution free energy for 200 years.
Hmm. That is a tough one.
Or, we spend 10 billion on an Alaska gasline that monetizes TRILLIONS of dollars of North Slope natural gas saving Alaska from bankruptcy when the oil runs out. Oh, and the gasline could feed Eielson with gas that the Air Force could use to make jet fuel using catalytic FT technology.
It was worthwhile to at least investigate the coal/liquid technology. But the cost of this thing has killed any rational reason to move forward with it.
Jim and Jim need to find a REAL jobs and quit flushing the tax payers money down the toilet. If they realy wont to do something study throwing the EPA and thier stupid standards out of the country. What a waste............
Why a coal plant with all the natural gas in Alaska? Coal plants produce soot with consequences to health. A growing body of research links fine particulate matter, commonly known as soot with increased rates of asthma and other respiratory diseases. The major sources of particulate matter are fossil fuel combustion and solid waste disposal.
Fine particulate matter or soot is measured by size or coarseness,
PM10 and PM2.5. Of the two, the smaller soot particle PM2.5 poses the
greatest health hazard. PM2.5 is about the thickness of a human red
blood cell. Because of its microscopic size, PM2.5 can be breathed
more deeply into the lung’s smallest airways and alveoli.
Federal regulators have declared PM2.5 as a causal factor in premature
death, in addition to aggravation of respiratory and cardiovascular
disease. The EPA has identified lung cancer deaths, infant mortality,
and developmental problems in children as possibly linked to PM2.5.
PM2.5, with coal-fired power plants being one of the leading sources.
Fine particle pollution from coal-fired power plants spreads over a
wide area. The majority of the pollution occurs within a 500 mile
radius of the plant with the greatest concentrations seen nearby within a moderate distance of the coal plant.
The borough mayor and Sarah have similarities.... political careers on a "bridge to nowhere."
You've got to be kidding!! I wish I had the ability to waste $10B of the taxpayer's money on a poorly-designed, untested, expensive pipe dream!
Go Jay go! Tell the borough boys to stick the plant where the sun don't shine! We need cost-effective, proven, reliable, and greener technologies.... not more "stuff" like this that lines the pockets of "outsiders" who have no vested interest in our economy, the citizens, or our land or air!
I vote "no" on this project!!
You heard of fool's gold, now we have Whitaker's fool'd coal. Why he plays with this, the real problem is never addressed. I wonder if he'll try for a Bloomberg, have the assembly pave the way for a third term. After all he has Luke Hopkins in his pocket, even has it set for his front man Luke to run for office to carry on his nonsense. When the Borough looks for a new Mayor next year, hopefully someone not connected with the current one or assembly will run. It's time for a CHANGE.
Darfur, and guess what industry would love to see this project move forward?
The coal industry.
And guess who is running (letter of intent filed) for mayor that works in the coal industry?
Hmmm, think this overpriced boondoggle will go away with a former coal executive running the borough?
Again, there is nothing wrong with at least considering all options. The distressing part of this is that now that we have a fair idea of the price of this, that the players are not instantly recognizing that there are other energy projects that are more worthy.
Gobble gobble.
Once again I have to agree with Jay Ramras. The price tag is insane for an experimental project that might break even when oil returns to over $120 a barrel. As a reference, Flint Hills bought the North Pole refinery for only $265 million dollars four years ago. At $10 billion dollars this 'experimental' plant would cost 40 times as much and only fuel one customer!
The Fischer-Troepch (sp)process is hardly a new and untried technology. It has been around since the early twentieth century and has been used extensively in South Africa. It's primary successes have been in circumstances where crude oil supplies were unavailable. However, it becomes more attractive as crude oil prices rise. Shell/SA has been involved in this process for many years. As I recall, several years ago the Alaska Energy Authority/AEDA put up $500,000 to begin a study of the feasibility of a mine-mouth F-T type coal-to-liquids plant near the Beluga natural gas turbines. In concept the plant was to use the Beluga area coal deposits to produce diesel and the excess heat would provide steam to generate electricity for the railbelt grid as Cook Inlet natural gas played out. I havn't heard anything about this lately. This project in the background certainly has implications for the FEDC plan. I seiously doubt that FEDC can come up with the horepower to pull this off. They certainly must know of the other project in the works through AEDA. This leads me to suspect that the FEDC project is a boondoggle from the get-go.
experimental technology is sitting in Healy the past 10 years not working for us, so let's not do that again. Obama's windmills won't solve the problem either. FEDC --- energy is the #1 economic issue in Fbks, so please enlist experts in the power industry to study to solve this problem.
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