CASPER - The Sierra Club has filed an appeal to state regulator officials seeking more stringent emission limits for Medicine Bow Fuel & Power, LLC's proposed coal-to-gasoline refinery in Carbon County.

The appeal was filed Monday with the Wyoming Environmental Quality Council, which oversees environmental regulations guiding the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality.

The charge is that the state didn't go far enough in its air emissions permit to protect human health and the environment. Sierra Club argued that the plant and related operations would emit enough soot, smog and dust that it wouldn't leave enough room in the region's airshed for emissions related to wind energy development.

Carbon County is also targeted for dozens of wind energy projects, which could potentially add to dust emissions because of related road networks.

"This is the nation's least populated state and we shouldn't' have to be worrying about the air we breathe, and yet from Powder River Basin to Pinedale we are," said Brad Mohrmann, Sierra Club's associate regional representative.

Medicine Bow Fuel & Power's parent company, DKRW Energy, said the Sierra Club's appeal is completely without merit.

"We meet all emissions criteria. (DEQ) held open public meetings. They're looking out for the people of the state and their health," said Robert C. Kelly, a founding partner of DKRW Energy.

As proposed, the plant is permitted to emit:

- up to 3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually;

- 175 tons of nitrogen oxides;

- 36.6 tons of sulfur dioxides;

- 310 tons of particulate matter (dust);

- 176 tons of carbon monoxide;

- 188 tons of volatile organic compounds;

- 23.6 tons of "hazardous air pollutants."

Kelly reiterated that DKRW intends to capture CO2, the main greenhouse gas contributing to global warming, from the coal gasification process, and market the CO2 for enhanced oil recovery or geologic sequestration.

The coal-to-liquids facility would have an output capacity of 18,000 to 20,000 barrels per day. The project also involves restarting a coal mine operation in the area to provide a feedstock for the refinery.

Kelly said it will be the first coal-based transportation fuels facility in the United States, which provides a strong fuel feedstock for the Rocky Mountain Region while reducing the nation's need for foreign oil imports. He said the refinery will produce ultra-low sulfur fuel that meets or beats gasoline standards.

"It will employ up to 2,300 construction workers for four years and 450 workers full time over the life of the project," Kelly said. "We're committed to making this happen."

Mohrmann said Wyoming would do better to focus on wind energy development.

"The Medicine Bow liquid coal plant comes with a host of problems: it threatens our health, our air and core sage grouse habitat," Mohrmann said. "Wind, on the other hand, is a growing industry that can help meet our energy needs, create good clean energy jobs and create a sustainable energy future. The choice is clear."

The Medicine Bow facility will use General Electric Co.'s coal gasification technology to produce a synthetic gas from which nearly all the sulfur and CO2 can be removed, according to DKRW. The "syngas" is then liquefied using the Fischer-Tropsch technology, which DKRW has licensed from Rentech, Inc.

Contact energy reporter Dustin Bleizeffer at 307-577-6069 or dustin.bleizeffer@trib.com. Read his blog at tribtown.trib.com/DustinBleizeffer/blog.

Last we knew: The Wyoming Outdoor Council, Earthjustice and the Sierra Club criticized the state's proposed pollution emissions permit for the Medicine Bow coal-to-liquids plant.

The latest: The Sierra Club moved forward with a formal appeal of the state's permit, saying it will unnecessarily degrade the region's air quality.

What's next: The matter will be addressed by the Wyoming Environmental Quality Council.]]->