EIS Available for Western Greenbrier Co-Production Demonstration Project

In order to satisfy the National Environmental Policy Act, certain projects must be the subject of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The Department of Energy has recently finished its EIS for the Western Greenbrier Co-Production Demonstration Project, Rainelle, Greenbrier
County, WV, which involves an innovative use of coal refuse and co-generation. For an abbreviated project summary from the Federal Register, and information on where to get the EIS, see below.


SUMMARY: DOE has decided to implement the Proposed Action alternative,
identified as the preferred alternative, in the Western Greenbrier Co-
Production Demonstration Project, Final Environmental Impact Statement
(DOE/EIS-0361; November 2007) (FEIS). That alternative is to provide
approximately $107.5 million (up to 50% of the development costs) to
Western Greenbrier Co-Generation, LLC (WGC) through a cooperative
agreement under the Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI) Program for a
Co-Production Facility to be located at Rainelle in Greenbrier County,
West Virginia. This funding will be used by WGC to design, construct
and demonstrate a 98 megawatt (net) power plant and cement
manufacturing facility based on an innovative atmospheric-pressure
circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler with a compact inverted cyclone
to generate electricity and steam by burning approximately 3,000 to
4,000 tons per day of coal refuse from several local sites.
DOE considered two overall alternatives: To provide cost-shared
funding or not to provide cost-shared funding to WGC's proposed
project. In addition, DOE examined a range of implementing options for
the power plant site, fuel supply, water supply, limestone supply,
means of transportation, and transmission corridors. DOE analyzed in
detail the environmental (including socioeconomic) impacts of each of
these different options, as well as the economic and environmental
benefits related to the reclamation and potential reuse of the coal
refuse sites.
This ROD and Floodplain Statement of Findings have been prepared in
accordance with the regulations of the Council on Environmental Quality
(CEQ) (40 Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] parts 1500-1508) for
implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), DOE's NEPA
Implementing Procedures (10 CFR part 1021), and DOE's Compliance with
Floodplain and Wetland Environmental Review Requirements (10 CFR part 1022).
ADDRESSES: The Final EIS is available on the DOE NEPA Web site at
http://www.blogger.com/www.eh.doe.gov/nepa/documentspub.html