Publication: CHARLESTON DAILY MAIL
Published: 04/15/2004
Byline: BY JIM WALLACE DAILY MAIL STAFF

Experts in economic development and energy research would like West Virginia to make a strong bid to get the $1 billion federal project known as FutureGen.

FutureGen is the 10-year demonstration project President Bush called for early in 2003 "to create the world's first coal-based, zero-emissions electricity and hydrogen power plant."

West Virginia can expect strong competition from other states, particularly Illinois, to get the plant. But Carl Irwin, program director for the National Research Center for Coal & Energy in Morgantown, believes the requirements of FutureGen are an "incredibly good fit with West Virginia."

Sen. John Unger, who works for a contractor with the National Energy Technology Laboratory in Morgantown, said West Virginia's abundant natural resources make it a good location for the FutureGen project. He said the state has plenty of the coal the plant would convert into hydrogen and energy. It also has lot of natural gas, which currently is used to produce most hydrogen in the United States.

West Virginia also has plenty of water, another resource needed in the process. Unger, D-Berkeley, said that's one reason why he and other state leaders worked to pass a bill this year to protect the state's water resources.

"We were afraid someone would exploit our resource," he said, if the nation is successful in switching to hydrogen as a common fuel source.

One benefit of the FutureGen plant would be the 275 megawatts of electrical power it would produce, but it also would produce hydrogen, which could be used in fuel cells that could power automobiles and electrical systems. Unger said that fits in with the nation's attempt to wean itself away from dependence on foreign oil.

Jeff Herholdt, manager of the energy program at the West Virginia Development Office, said his agency is working with Marshall University on the development of markets for using hydrogen power.

"We're certainly excited about FutureGen," he said.

A good location for the plant would be one along the Ohio River that has good river and rail access to bring in coal from all around, Herholdt said. The challenge is for West Virginia is to get others excited about it as a location for FutureGen, he said.

Irwin expects the competition for FutureGen to be hot from several states. Southern Illinois, which has natural resources similar to those in West Virginia, already is making a strong push to get it. Congressmen from both parties recently arranged for a delegation of industry, labor and academic officials from Illinois to meet in Washington, D.C., with Department of Energy officials, according to Illinois newspapers.

Unger believes a big advantage West Virginia has over Illinois is that it is closer to the major population centers of the East Coast, which would be the prime markets for the electricity and hydrogen produced by FutureGen. But he said government and private sector officials must get together to promote West Virginia's cause.

"We can better present our case as a unified front," Unger said.

The effort to get FutureGen in West Virginia also fits into his efforts to promote economic development in the state by addressing the nation's security needs.

Unger is setting up a Council on Economic Development in Homeland Security under the auspices of A Vision Shared, the state's development plan.

If West Virginia became the home of this big federal project to develop a secure source of energy that's not dependent on foreign oil, he said, then it might encourage more companies to set up back office operations in the state. Those facilities could then become the operational centers for their companies in the face of some disaster in cities where those companies have headquarters, Unger said.

"It all fits into the war on terror and securing the homeland," he said.

Herholdt said the site for FutureGen originally was to be selected this summer, but he now thinks it's unlikely to happen before next spring.

Writer Jim Wallace can be reached at 348-4819 or by e-mail at jimw@dailymail.com.