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The Department of Energy (DOE) will hold a public hearing on Thursday,
January 4, 2007 at Western Greenbrier Middle School in which agencies, organizations, and individuals are invited to present oral comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Western Greenbrier Co-Production Demonstration Project, a proposed power plant and ash byproduct manufacturing facility to be located in Rainelle, Greenbrier County, West Virginia.

The public hearing

The public hearing will be held on Thursday, January 4, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. at Western Greenbrier Middle School (map) in Crawley, West Virginia. A registration and informational session be conducted prior to the meeting, beginning at 4:00 p.m.

The full text of the DOE’s notice from the Register-Herald is available online, providing details as to the time and place of the meeting, and outlining how interested parties may comment on the agency’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement.

The power plant

Western Greenbrier Co-Generation, LLC (WGC) proposes to construct a 75 MW clean-coal, co-production demonstration project in Rainelle, West Virginia. The primary fuel will be waste coal from a 4 million ton refuse site in Anjean, West Virginia (map). Parsons E&C (Reading, Pennsylvania) will be the turn-key systems contractor with Alstom Power (Windsor, Connecticut) providing an advanced fluidized-bed boiler system.

The integrated co-production facility will manufacture structural bricks certified to meet insulation and load-bearing specification requirements while simultaneously providing 75 MW of power to the national grid. Ash chemical properties will be tightly controlled using a process developed by Hazen Research Labs in Golden, Colorado. The patented structural bricks, which contain both ash and wood waste (trademarked “WoodBriks.”), were developed by Midway Environmental Associates of Arvada, Colorado.

The eco-park

The power plant will be the “anchor tenant” in a new, environmentally balanced industrial park (an eco-park), which builds on a synergistic relationship to the clean-coal power generation system. The eco-park will include greenhouse structures for hot water utilization, the WoodBrik. co-production facility for ash utilization, and a variety of steam users including a hardwood dry kiln.

Western Greenbrier Co-Generation, LLC is a new public service entity formed to serve the interests of three municipalities (Rainelle, Rupert, and Quinwood) in Greenbrier County, West Virginia.