CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A Texas company that plans to build a plant to convert coal to gasoline in Wyoming is still negotiating with Idaho National Laboratory about reviewing the project, the head of the company said Monday.
Robert Kelly, chairman of DKRW Advanced Fuels, said he expects the laboratory review will take about 30 days once an agreement is reached.
DKRW last year asked Wyoming to purchase up to $300 million in industrial development bonds to help finance the $2 billion project. The state Legislature would have to authorize any investment above $100 million.
Kelly said the company doesn't intend to push for authorization for the investment in the legislative session that starts next week. He says lawmakers and Gov. Matt Mead must decide how they want to proceed.
"We've told the governor and all the legislators this all along, they need to do what they feel comfortable doing," Kelly said. He said that if they are comfortable investing up to $100 million, it wouldn't require any legislative action.
State Sen. Phil Nicholas, R-Laramie, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has said he believes legislative leadership would be comfortable investing a maximum of between $50 million to $100 million in the bonds.
State Treasurer Joe Meyer has said he wouldn't invest state funds in the venture without certification from the Wyoming Business Council that it had vetted and approved the investment. The council had asked for the national laboratory review, which officials have said could cost $130,000.
DKRW proposes to build its plant near Medicine Bow, a town of some 300 people about 100 miles west of Cheyenne. It would transform coal mined underground at the site into 10,600 barrels of gasoline per day to serve the Denver market.
Kelly has said the plant would use technology licensed by Exxon and General Electric that has been proven at industrial sites around the world. He said using the nation's coal reserves to produce gasoline to reduce dependence on foreign oil should be particularly important to Wyoming, the nation's leading coal producing state.
The Carbon County Commission in January unanimously endorsed issuing $300 million in industrial development bonds for the project, which are the bonds DKRW had asked the state to purchase. The commission also endorsed issuing $245 million in tax exempt bonds for the project, which would be sold on the open market.
The U.S. Department of Energy in 2009 notified DKRW that the project had cleared preliminary review to qualify for a $1.75 billion loan guarantee. Kelly said the national laboratory review shouldn't take long because the project has already been studied extensively by the DOE.
If everything goes smoothly for the project, Kelly said construction could begin by the middle of the year. "We've got a lot of work to do in all these reviews, but that's kind of where we're shooting for," he said.
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