Marshall oilman chairs FutureGen group

Steve Dean, left, and Rusty Howell will serve as vice chairman and chairman of the ETCOG FutureGen site selection committee. Counties or regions planning to submit possible locations for the proposed FutureGen project have until Dec. 9 to get their proposals into the East Texas Council of Governments (ETCOG) FutureGen Site Location Committee.

Members of the committee met recently and selected Rusty Howell of Marshall and Steven Dean of Upshur as chairman and vice-chairman, respectively, of the committee.

The committee is made up of 29 members representing the 14 ETCOG entities and industry, economic development and environmental agencies in those counties.

Members of the Site Selection Committee include industry representatives: Rick Keeling, Rusk County Electric Cooperative, Rusk County; Scott Snedden, Delek Refining Limited, Smith County; Mark Lammert, Eastman Chemical, Harrison County; Keith Honey, AEP/SWEPCO, Gregg County; Cliff Butler, Pilgrims Pride, Camp County; Kerry Smith, Centerpoint Energy, Shreveport, LA; and Marty Walker, North American Coal, Harrison County.

Other industry representatives include Debbie Robinson, Wood County Electric Cooperative, Wood County; Bob Tippit, Union Pacific Railroad, Gregg County; Phillip Carleton, Morton Salt, Van Zandt County; Rusty Howell, Howell Oil and Gas, Harrison County; and Steve Dean, Texas Forest Products, Upshur County.

Economic development (EDC) representatives include John Stroud, Longview EDC, Gregg County; Tom Mullins, Tyler EDC, Smith County; Charles Thomas, city of Carthage EDC, Panola County; Clyde Smith, city of Emory EDC, Rains County; Gary McKinley, Wood County EDC, Wood County; Brian Malone, city of Palestine EDC, Anderson County; and Herb Gatlin, city of Athens EDC, Henderson County.

Environmental representatives are Jessica Noble from WE CAN (Working for Environmental Community Action Now) in Gregg County and Dr. Ramon Alvarez, Environmental Defense Fund, Austin.

Water District and river authority representatives include Walt Sears, North East Texas Municipal Water District, Camp/Marion/ Upshur Counties; and Claudia Abney, Sabine River Authority, Harrison County.

Other representatives include Lewie Byers, Texas National Bank, Cherokee County; Corby Alexander, city of Jefferson city manager, Marion County; Judge David Holstein, East Texas Economic Development District, Henderson County; Judge Bill Stoudt, Workforce Development Board CEO, Gregg County; and Bill Hale, Rusk County commissioner.

FutureGen is a $1 billion federal initiative to design, build and operate a 275-megawatt energy facility that produces electricity and hydrogen with near zero emissions.

Luke Kimbrough, ETCOG economic development manager, said the federal government is considering several states for the project – Texas, Illinois, Ohio Kentucky Wyoming and Indiana.

“They are looking at places where there is a lot of lignite and the infrastructure to support transporting it,” he said. “This could create (primary and secondary) 15,000 jobs.”

The East Texas Council of Governments (ETCOG) is accepting proposals for sites for the project in its 14-county.

Earlier this year, the Texas Railroad Commission, in conjunction with the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin, held a meeting in Marshall. At this meeting, it was announced that the state would allow each of the councils of governments (COGs) to present one site in its region as a possible location for the FutureGen project.

“ETCOG is requesting that one proposal per county be submitted,” said Luke Kimbrough, ETCOG economic development manager. “The selection of the East Texas site is expected to take place on Dec. 15 by the members FutureGen Site Selection Committee with the ETCOG Executive Committee’s review and approval scheduled on Dec. 16.”

After the ETCOG site selection committee named the region’s top choice, that proposal will be forwarded to the ETCOG Executive Committee for final approval.

If approved, the proposal will be sent to Austin no later than Jan. 9, 2006

Selection of the Texas location is expected in early 2006 Then the process will begin with again with the Texas proposal competing against those from the other states.

The actual site award is expected to take place late next year.

Sponsored by the Department of Energy, FutureGen will be the world’s first near-zero emissions fossil fuel energy facility. Designed as both a power plant and a research laboratory, FutureGen will generate electricity, produce hydrogen and capture and sequester carbon dioxide.

The prototype plant will establish the technical and economic feasibility of producing electricity and hydrogen from coal (the lowest cost and most abundant domestic energy resource), while capturing and sequestering the carbon dioxide generated in the process. The initiative will be a government/ industry partnership to pursue an innovative ‘showcase’ project focused on the design, construction and operation of a technically cutting-edge power plant that is intended to eliminate environmental concerns associated with coal utilization. This will be a ‘living prototype’ with future technology innovations incorporated into the design as needed, according to the Department of Energy.