Department of Energy December 8, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announces the availability of the document, Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Gilberton Coal-to-Clean Fuels and Power Project (DOE/EIS-0357), for public comment. The draft environmental impact statement (EIS) analyzes the potential environmental consequences of providing federal funding for the design, engineering, construction, and operation of the first power facility in the United States to use coal waste as feed to a gasification facility that subsequently generates fuel gas for clean power, thermal energy, and clean liquid fuels production. The project would be constructed at an existing power plant site in Gilberton, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. The Department prepared this draft EIS in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations that implement the procedural provisions of NEPA (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), and the DOE procedures implementing NEPA (10 CFR part 1021). DOE's proposed action (and preferred alternative) is to provide cost-shared funding to design, construct, and operate a new plant to demonstrate coproduction of 41 MW of electricity for export, steam, and over 5,000 barrels-per-day of clean liquid hydrocarbon products (primarily diesel fuel and naptha). DOE may also provide a loan guarantee, pursuant to the Energy Policy Act of 2005, to guarantee a portion of the private sector financing for the project. The demonstration plant would use a gasifier to convert coal waste to synthesis gas, which would be conveyed to Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) liquefaction facilities for production of liquid fuels and to a combined-cycle power plant. The demonstration facilities, to be constructed in Gilberton, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, would process up to 4,700 tons per day of coal waste (anthracite culm). The potential environmental impacts of this action are evaluated in this Draft EIS. The Draft EIS also analyzed the No Action Alternative, under which DOE would not provide cost-shared funding to demonstrate the commercial-scale integration of coal gasification and F-T synthesis technology to produce electricity, steam and liquid fuels. Under the No-Action Alternative, it is reasonably foreseeable that no new activity would occur.