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Energy project still possible
Here’s a time line of events in the development of the Baard Energy coal-to-liquid fuel plant:
March 2006: John Baardson, president of Baard Energy of Vancouver, Wash., said only a major catastrophe would stop construction of his proposed plant in Wellsville.
December 2006: Baard Energy already is at work to get needed permits. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and Baard workers communicate at length to help speed the project.
February 2007: Baard Energy announces it has hired AMEC Paragon of Houston to provide engineering and management services for the plant construction.
July 2007: U.S. Reps. Charles A. Wilson Jr. of St. Clairsville, D-6th, and Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, obtained more than $2 million to study how to deal with by-products from the planned process.
Oct. 2009: The needed permits are all approved, but Baardson sought funding in the private sector after environmentalists filed lawsuits over the project
Source: Vindicator files
Work is still under way for a plant to turn coal into a liquid fuel.
WELLSVILLE — When — or will — the Baard Energy plant become a reality?
Lauded by officials and unions and supported by the military for aviation fuel, the proposed coal-to-fuel plant proposed by John Baardson in 2006 has not become a reality.
Tracy Drake, the chief executive officer of the Columbiana County Port Authority, said recently that the proposed project is still in play.
Drake said it has the needed permits from the state.
The port authority also is in the process of extending options for another six months to buy land near Wellsville for the proposed plant.
The estimated $6 billion facility would turn high-sulfur coal into liquid fuel using a system developed during World War II.
The engineering on the plant has also been proceeding.
“Everything was ready to go,” Drake said.
But the U.S. Department of Energy backed off when two court actions were filed against the project. One was from the Sierra Club, and the second was from the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The filings were enough to make the DOE wait, Drake said.
Baardson, in response, had announced he would stop looking for federal loan guarantees and would instead search for private-sector funding rather than wait for the lawsuits to end.
Steve Dopuch, a spokesperson for Baardson, had said that either he or Baardson would make a comment Tuesday about the status of the project, but no statement was made.
wilkinson@vindy.com