GILLETTE (AP) - The Campbell County Commission has approved an increase in the amount of taxable and tax-exempt bonds to help build the proposed Two Elk power plant near Wright.

The decision last week came after a presentation by a North American Power Group official who indicated that the project has cleared numerous hurdles toward completion. The company asked that the bonds available for the project be increased from $360 million to $500 million.

"We must … commence construction and achieve certain very important milestones by the middle of next year," company Vice President Daniel D. Yueh told commissioners.

The plant will generate 310 megawatts of power from Campbell County waste coal, which is fuel that is not sold to utilities and is reburied in the mine reclamation process.

The plant, planned for a location about 20 miles southeast of Wright, could generate more than 50 permanent jobs in the area if it is completed, officials have said.

Yueh told commissioners that a market in the Southwest has been secured for distribution of its power. Also, the first of two agreements has been signed with PacifiCorp to provide transmission service on a 20-year basis, he added.

"If you don't have a buyer for your product, there's no point in building the plant," Yueh said.

The long-planned power plant has seen its share of ups and downs since the company received its initial permitted clearance in 1998.

The company in 2002 lost its air quality permit because the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality decided it could not meet standards.

Also, Gov. Dave Freudenthal denied tax-exempt bonding for the company because of a lack of progress on the project.

The company is waiting to determine the appropriate amount of taxable versus tax-exempt bonding to attain "financial optimization" for funding the project, Yueh said.

"If we choose to increase that fraction of tax-exempt bonds, we need to go back to the governor's office," he told commissioners.