Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Pike County Unveils Energy Study.
Pikeville—On Monday, July 14, Pike County Judge Executive Wayne T. Rutherford revealed the results of a recently completed energy study. The study explores the technical and economic aspects for placing both a coal-to-liquid facility and an energy research center in Pike County. The study outlines the estimated cost for construction and operation of a coal-to-liquid plant, and establishes a plan for advancing energy research for Eastern Kentucky and the rest of the nation.
“We have the answer to America’s Energy Crisis—120 billion tons of recoverable coal in the Central Appalachian Coal Basin,” said Judge Rutherford, during the press conference.
“There’s more coal here in Central Appalachia to be turned into liquid than there are oil reserves in the Middle East,” he added.
The majority of the study was funded through the Kentucky Department of Energy and the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), and was conducted by Summit Engineering, with oversight provided by the Pike County Fiscal Court. The study cost approximately $850,000, of which the county paid 7 percent.
The proposed CTL facility is projected to produce 50,000 barrels of coal-to-liquid per day, and will use 24,533 tons of coal per day.
While, according to Rutherford, the Fiscal Court has received several proposals from companies desiring to construct a coal-to-liquid plant in Pike County, those proposals have not yet been adequately reviewed. He stressed that each of the proposals will be thoroughly examined upon several considerations, including the threat that each of the proposals poses to the environment.
“Whatever we do in energy, we’ll be conscious of the environment,” Judge Rutherford said. “But we must balance our ecology with our economy.”
While the study examined four different Pike County sites as potential sites for the CTL plant, the site at Big Shoal, located north of Pikeville, stood out above the rest.
Negotiations to acquire the 240 acres of land at Big Shoal are currently underway. The property has immediate access to rail and highway amenities, has access to municipal water, sewer and communication utilities, and access to commercial air service through the Pikeville/Pike County Airport. The close proximity of Big Shoal to the Big Sandy River will give the plant a direct water source for industrial use.
In addition to establishing a CTL plant, the study also designed a plan to create an American Energy Center. The 40,000 square foot facility will be a national consortium of universities, private industry and government agencies. The plan is to build pilot-scale alternative energy plants with commercialization as one goal and workforce training for the energy industry as another.
The proposed energy center will be a partnership between the Fiscal Court, the Kentucky Coal Academy and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System in order to improve workforce education concerning 21st Century energy technologies and processes. Partners in the Fiscal Court’s national research effort include the University of Kentucky, Virginia Tech, Oak Ridge National Laboratories, and the state of Kentucky.
“We have the answer to America’s Energy Crisis—120 billion tons of recoverable coal in the Central Appalachian Coal Basin,” said Judge Rutherford, during the press conference.
“There’s more coal here in Central Appalachia to be turned into liquid than there are oil reserves in the Middle East,” he added.
The majority of the study was funded through the Kentucky Department of Energy and the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), and was conducted by Summit Engineering, with oversight provided by the Pike County Fiscal Court. The study cost approximately $850,000, of which the county paid 7 percent.
The proposed CTL facility is projected to produce 50,000 barrels of coal-to-liquid per day, and will use 24,533 tons of coal per day.
While, according to Rutherford, the Fiscal Court has received several proposals from companies desiring to construct a coal-to-liquid plant in Pike County, those proposals have not yet been adequately reviewed. He stressed that each of the proposals will be thoroughly examined upon several considerations, including the threat that each of the proposals poses to the environment.
“Whatever we do in energy, we’ll be conscious of the environment,” Judge Rutherford said. “But we must balance our ecology with our economy.”
While the study examined four different Pike County sites as potential sites for the CTL plant, the site at Big Shoal, located north of Pikeville, stood out above the rest.
Negotiations to acquire the 240 acres of land at Big Shoal are currently underway. The property has immediate access to rail and highway amenities, has access to municipal water, sewer and communication utilities, and access to commercial air service through the Pikeville/Pike County Airport. The close proximity of Big Shoal to the Big Sandy River will give the plant a direct water source for industrial use.
In addition to establishing a CTL plant, the study also designed a plan to create an American Energy Center. The 40,000 square foot facility will be a national consortium of universities, private industry and government agencies. The plan is to build pilot-scale alternative energy plants with commercialization as one goal and workforce training for the energy industry as another.
The proposed energy center will be a partnership between the Fiscal Court, the Kentucky Coal Academy and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System in order to improve workforce education concerning 21st Century energy technologies and processes. Partners in the Fiscal Court’s national research effort include the University of Kentucky, Virginia Tech, Oak Ridge National Laboratories, and the state of Kentucky.
# posted by Joe Kinzer @ 1:07 PM 
