Earth Equity News

West Virginia Coal-to-Liquid Plant Gets $200 Million in Tax Breaks. By Ken Ward, Charleston Gazette-Mail, August 8, 2008. "Gov. Joe Manchin's energy plan, which calls for creation of a series of liquid coal plants around West Virginia. Manchin believes liquid coal can replace gasoline and reduce the state's dependence on foreign oil. But many scientific and environmental organizations oppose liquid coal projects. Even if greenhouse gas emissions from the fuel plants are captured and pumped underground, liquid coal fuels still generate more carbon dioxide emissions than traditional transportation fuels... The Manchin administration has agreed to give nearly $200 million in tax breaks and other incentives to developers of a coal-to-liquids plant proposed for Marshall County. That's about $3.3 million in government incentives for each of the 60 jobs the facility would provide. Commerce Secretary Kelley Goes signed the agreement in her role as executive director of the West Virginia Development Office. Goes had previously refused to release the agreement, and continued to insist Thursday that the document was exempt from disclosure under the state's public records law... CONSOL Energy Inc. and a Houston-based company called Synthesis Energy Systems Inc. formed a joint venture called Appalachian Fuel LLC to develop the $800 million coal-to-liquids facility. They hope to build the plant in an industrial park south of Wheeling. Under plans announced last week, the project would convert coal to gas using a Synthesis proprietary technology called U-Gas. Developers said that 'it is expected' that this gas will be used to produce methanol for the chemical industry. In addition, they said, the plant would 'be capable' of converting methanol production to about 100 million gallons a year of 87-octane gasoline."