12-29-10

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality yesterday issued an air quality permit for the planned 400-megawatt power plant in Odessa that promises to capture more than 90 percent of its carbon-dioxide emissions, which would qualify it for up to $100 million in state tax breaks.

Unlike the permit awarded earlier this month for a planned carbon-capturing coal-fired plant in Nolan County, the permit granted to Summit Power Group of Washington State came without controversy because none of the environmental organizations filed a challenge with the state regulatory agency.

Summit’s $2.2 billion project also promises to eliminate 99 percent of the sulfur, at least 95 percent of the mercury and more than 90 percent of the nitrogen oxides, making the facility what the company says will be the cleanest coal-fueled power project ever permitted in Texas.

“This is a milestone moment for America’s energy economy and this project, and we are grateful to the TCEQ staff for the time and attention given (the project’s) permit during the holiday season,” said Summit Chairman Donald Hodel, who served as secretary of energy in the Reagan Administration. “We are delighted to be building this project in Texas, where federal, state and local elected officials have all worked effectively toward the same objective, namely to bring near-zero emissions coal technology to the world marketplace.”

Summit plans top begin construction on its 600-acre West Texas site in the second half of 2011. The project is expected to put more than 1,500 people to work during peak of construction and employ 150 permanent jobs when the plant is operational.
The project was given a huge shot in the arm last year when the federal government awarded it $450 million from the stimulus plan and from the Department of Energy’s Clean Coal Power Initiative.

Summit Power has been specializing in innovative electric power projects throughout the United States since 1990.