Plans progress to build coal-to-liquid fuel plant

By D.a. Wilkinson

The plant would eventually require about 225 full-time workers.

WELLSVILLE — Columbiana County officials are quickly moving ahead with plans to start a plant here that would turn coal into liquid fuel.

Tracy Drake, chief executive officer for the county port authority, said last week that he was submitting a grant application to the state for funds to buy most of the land.

The Ohio Department of Development had $5 million available for acquisition and “told” the authority to apply for $4.5 million for the project, Drake said.

That will leave the authority and Baard Energy of Vancouver, Wash., to find about $700,000 needed to buy the proposed site.

Baard Energy wants to build the plant with a cost of up to $6 billion.

The Ohio Environmental Protection agency in late November approved the last major environmental permit needed to build the plant.

The proposed plant site would take about 600 acres at the southern edge of Wellsville. Drake said that the land has to be acquired so site preparation could begin in March. That would include removing trees and leveling what is now a large hill.

The site preparation would allow construction to begin in 2010.

Company officials have said the plant would eventually require about 225 full-time workers with at least an associate degree.

Drake said that may also include workers with doctoral degrees.

Columbiana County Commissioner Jim Hoppel said that the commissioners would provide letters of support for funding for the project.

When the Baard plant was announced, area chambers of commerce worked together to create a Web site for contractors or potential workers at the plant.

The idea was that contractors could use the site to quickly find local resources for items they needed. People who might be working at the plant could also check out communities and schools.

Audrey Null, the executive director of the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce, said that plan had run into some problems that are expected to be resolved shortly.

State Sen. Jason Wilson of Columbiana said that support from the state and the port authority should send a message to Baard Energy that it should be making the right steps to acquire funding for the project.

Baard Energy is seeking investors for the plant. David DiStefano of Locke Lord Strategies in Washington, D.C., has been seeking federal loan guarantees for the project.

wilkinson@vindy.com