Cash Creek Generation

Cash Creek Generation is a proposed coal gasification coal plant in Henderson County, Kentucky.

The Erora Group has proposed to build a 770 megawatt (MW) Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) coal plant near Owensboro, in Henderson County, Kentucky. In October 2006, the company announced that it had received financing commitments from global energy financier, the D. E. Shaw Group.

In January 2007, GE Energy Financial Services acquired 20% of the project. The draft permit for the plant has been issued.

In June 2007, the Warrick County Commissioners and the Newburgh Town Council voted to formally object to the air pollution permit for the plant. At a highly contentious public hearing on June 29, dozens of area residents expressed opposition to the plant. On Nov. 30, 2007, Erora announced that the Kentucky Division for Air Quality had approved the air permit for the plant; the project still needs additional regulatory approval, and construction is expected to begin in 2008. Valley Watch is leading the opposition to the plant.

On October 2, 2008, Erora Group submitted a revised PSD air permit application to the Kentucky Division of Air Quality for the plant.

On February 17, 2009, the Sierra Club filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking an order requiring the EPA to grant or deny Sierra Club's petitions against the Title V Operating Permit. The deadline for the EPA ruling was nearly one year ago.

On April 3, 2009, the Sierra Club filed comments on the Clean Water Act permit application. Erora has proposed to fill 1,545 feet of intermittent streams with gasifier slag. As of May, the air permit application is still under review by the Kentucky Division of Air Quality

In July 2010, the Kentucky Division of Water announced it is holding a public hearing to invite comments on a wastewater discharge permit for the plant. The state had issued a final wastewater permit for the plant in February. But it made revisions to it after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in May 2010 challenged the issuance of the permit.

Project Details
Sponsor: Erora Group, LLC Location: Henderson County, Kentucky Capacity: 770 MW Type: IGCC (excess synthesis gas to be sold) Projected in service: 2012 Status: Permitting New permit for project as a producer of "replacement" natural gas should be issued in the period of the late May-June. The new permit will supercede the previously permitted project.

Citizen Groups

 * Valley Watch, contact [at] valleywatch.net

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Kentucky and coal
 * Carbon Capture and Storage
 * Carbon Capture and Storage demonstration projects worldwide
 * Carbon Capture and Storage in the United States
 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * US proposed coal plants (both active and cancelled)
 * Coal plants cancelled in 2007
 * Coal plants cancelled in 2008
 * State-by-state guide to information on coal in the United States (or click on the map)