Single Page
New permits for Healy Clean Coal Plant issued by Alaska regulatorsAlaska has issued a key air quality control permit needed to restart the long-dormant Healy Clean Coal Plant, a 50-megawatt power plant about 90 miles south of Fairbanks that has sat idle more than a decade and been called one of Alaska's most conspicuous boondoggles. On Friday, Alaska's Department of Environmental Conservation issued what is basically a renewal for a previously issued air quality permit for the Healy Clean Coal Project. The permit also covers the Healy No. 1 plant, which is adjacent to the Healy Clean Coal Plant and had been operating without updated permits. It will be the first time since 2009 since the facilities have operated under an updated permit. A variety of government entities, both state and federal, and Usibelli Coal Co. have chipped in more than $300 million in grants, bonds, loans and in-kind donations to build the plant and explore experimental combustion and emissions-control technology. But when the plant was completed, lackluster performance tests and hesitation from its main customer, Fairbanks utility Golden Valley Electrical Association (GVEA), led to the plant's closing in late 1999. Critics at the time said that the plant would cost too much to run, was unsafe and unreliable. Perhaps most important, it wasn't shown to pollute the air any less than conventional coal-fired equipment. As it sits idle, the plant costs the state-owned Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA), which constructed and owns the plant, $1.75 million per year. After a long-running dispute that ended in 2009, AIDEA agreed to sell the plant to Golden Valley for $50 million, which it would fund, and to provide up to $45 million in loans to cover start-up costs. The sale settlement and reopening of the plant hinged on the facility obtaining a renewed air-quality permit. With that in hand, a process could begin in which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could get involved. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports that the EPA didn't weigh in on the new permit before its Jan. 13 deadline passed to comment. But over a 30-day period that started Friday, anyone who commented on Healy Clean Coal's permit application has the option of petitioning the federal agency to review the state permit and either approve it, reject it or seek modifications. If a petition is filed and the EPA conducts a review, the resulting decision could be challenged in court. One thing's for certain: The permit is expected to face challenges. Energy industry information service Platts reports that Golden Valley has been negotiating with a coalition of environmental groups led by the Sierra Club to avoid the delays posed by appeals and lawsuits. Golden Valley President Brian Newton told the News-Miner that there hasn't been much common ground in the negotiations. Platts says that the main request from environmental groups has been that Healy Clean Coal Plant should have additional pollution control measures installed before it restarts. Contact Scott Woodham at swoodham@alaskadispatch.com Interesting idea ragnarock. But such a gas line will have to run through Denali National Park which, even if it is in the Alaska Railroad right of way, will require approval of the National Park Service. What do you think the chances are of that? The shame here is that the idled plant is cleaner than the older, grandfathered Healy coal fired plant that is operating next to it. If the newer plant could be brought online, Fairbanks would have abundant affordable electricity - cheap enough to heat with compared to their current heating fuels. A gas line running to Healy would not have to run through Denali National Park. It will never be cheap enough to heat your house with. Making hot water with electricty is bad enough. The real reason is because all of the infrastructure for 4 military bases, University, MUS power plant, two refineries, and all of the commercial buildings are set up to run off of steam and hydronic heating. That is what we do in the Arctic because it is dependable and efficient. We need propane and natural gas now. This whole project has been a ten year embarassment. If we were Japanese, there would be dead bodies laying everywhere with katanas sticking out of their abdomens. Instead we have the same people still collecting saleries that should pay for four employees. My boss demands dependability and accountability. Something our politicians and Co-op know nothing about Far Out! a gas line going by healy could convert this plant to co-fired, blending gas and coal, politics has wasted all the money on this nothing else |
Comments