Pennsylvania Coal Project Problems Continue

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--A proposed 525-megawatt (MW) waste-coal-fired power plant that had started in Nemacolin, Pennsylvania, has had to demobilize and cease construction. The Greene Energy Resource Recovery project being developed by Wellington Development Corporation (Manchester, Maryland) started site preparation in 2005 but has been delayed many times because of legal challenges filed by environmental groups and a change in prime contractors. However, after selecting engineering and construction firm Bechtel Power Corporation (Frederick, Maryland), the project looked likely to progress out of the site-preparation phase.

However, another setback unfortunately occurred while excavating the site in preparation for foundations for the boiler. A 500-ton coal vein was unearthed, and activity at the site had to stop again to notify the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PDEP) (Harrisburg). The notification of the coal discovery was made in order to affirm that the existing permit was inclusive of mining operations. The administrator for PDEP has not issued a decision as of yet about whether an additional mining permit is needed or the original permit is sufficient. Consequently, all work has stopped, and the prime contractor, Bechtel, has been demobilized.

The Greene Energy Resource Recovery project will use waste coal, commonly called "gob" or "boney piles" in the western coal fields of Pennsylvania, and "culm" in the eastern coal fields. Waste-coal piles are a significant problem in Pennsylvania, which has some 220,000 acres of abandoned mine lands and more than 2,200 miles of streams impaired by polluted mine drainage. These piles include at least 258 million tons of waste coal that cause polluted mine drainage, scar the landscape, and in some cases, result in coal-refuse fires, which contribute to air pollution. One site, estimated at 500 acres, is the biggest coal refuse pile east of the Mississippi River.

Circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boilers, the technology being used at the Greene Energy Resource Recovery site, can burn waste coal, which has far less thermal heating value than conventional coal. CFB boiler technology also releases lower carbon-dioxide and nitrogen-oxide emissions than conventional coal boilers, using comparable best available control technology, so less toxic emissions are released. Additionally, limestone is injected into the boiler, helping lower sulfur oxides during combustion.

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