Governor urges support for plant

The proposed plant would make liquid fuel and electricity.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
EAST LIVERPOOL -- Political and financial support is rolling in for a proposed plant that would turn coal into liquid fuel.
Tracy Drake, chief executive officer of the authority, told its members Monday that Gov. Ted Strickland had expressed his support for the project to U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman.
In a Dec. 27 letter, then Gov.-elect Strickland wrote, "The proposed project will both help make Ohio a leader in the development of new technologies and allow the United States freedom from dependence on foreign oil."
Strickland urged the energy department to approve loan guarantees for the 4 billion Ohio River Clean Fuels project. The ORCF company plans to build the plant in Yellow Creek Township in southern Columbiana County. It would create about 225 permanent jobs.
Drake said the guarantee has since been issued that will help to sell the bonds when they are put on the market later this year.
The proposed plant will generate electricity as a side product. The ORCF and the Ohio Power Siting Board have also reached an agreement to sell surplus electricity to energy companies. Figures on production and cost weren't released.
Road work
The Ohio Department of Development has also contributed 2 million for work along Sixteen School Road that leads toward the proposed site. Plans call for the plant to be located near the authority's port being built along the Ohio River. The port will handle truck, rail and water traffic.
Drake said that as part of the development of the project, the Ohio Water Development Authority has approved giving 7 million to the Buckeye Water District, which is expanding service in southern Columbiana County.
Drake said the money would fund preliminary engineering for the facilities to accommodate the plant and for water and sewer capacity expansion.
Drake said that if the authority moved quickly, it could get some of the work done by the end of 2007.
Buckeye Industrial Mining is also doing some site preparation at the port to improve railroad access.
The bad news, Tracy said, is that bids for a crane and a pad for the port came in well over estimates. He did not disclose the figures.
Drake said the price of steel has risen sharply. The crane and pad will be rebid separately in an attempt to get lower bids.
Data-storage center project
In another project, Drake said a group plans to announce a new phase in the plan by B-Telecom Inc. of Chardon to create a data-storage center in the port's industrial park in Leetonia. Work on the center has begun.
OneCommunity of Cleveland, working with Case Western Reserve University, and unspecified higher education facilities and business incubators, wants to create a Broadband Digital Center of Excellence at the Leetonia facility.
Drake was unsure of the details of the proposed project.
OneCommunity would use the facility to demonstrate its new technology.
wilkinson@vindy.com