Western Greenbrier Co-Production Demonstration Project

Western Greenbrier Co-Production, originally a joint project of three West Virginia municipalities and the Department of Energy, was granted a permit to build a 98-megawatt circulating fluidized bed coal plant in Greenbrier County. It would utilize waste coal as well as wood waste.

The plant was part of President Bush’s Clean Coal Power initiative, and the Department of Energy was a co-operator, putting up $107 million for the project. Permits for Greenbrier were approved, and the plant was scheduled to be operational by 2009. Several environmental groups filed a legal appeal against the permit. On March 5, 2007, the West Virginia Air Quality Board rejected their appeal. On Aug. 3, the Department of Environmental Protection granted the project a water use permit. On Nov. 6, 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy released the final Environmental Impact Statement for the project.

Project costs rose from $215 million to upwards of $450 million, and sponsors were reportedly having financial difficulties; in November, Western Greenbrier CoGen defaulted on a $5 million loan from the state but subsequently renegotiated the loan.

On September 3, 2008, it was made public that company officials were notified in June 2008 that the Department of Energy was pulling all funding for the project. A spokesman for the Department of Energy stated that it had become "clear that the ultimate success of the project was not likely."

On September 5, 2008, Western Greenbrier CoGen issued an official news release stating that the power plant project had been canceled. The West Virginia Economic Development Authority stated the three municipalities involved in the project would not be held liable for the project's outstanding debt.

Project Details
Sponsors: Western Greenbrier Co-Generation LLC and U.S. Department of Energy Location: Rainelle, Greenbrier County, WV Capacity:  98 megawatts Type:  circulating fluidized bed Projected in service:  2009 Status:  Canceled

Citizen Groups

 * Appalachian Center for Economy and the Environment, info [at] appalachian-center.org
 * West Virginia Sierra Club, Karen Grubb, kgrubb [at] fairmontstate.edu
 * West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, Julian Martin, imaginemew [at] aol.com
 * Greenbrier River Watershed Association, grwa [at] peoplepc.com
 * Appalachian Voices, outreach [at] appvoices.org
 * West Virginia Environmental Council, Chuck Wyrostok, wyro [at] appalight.com

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Coal plant litigation
 * West Virginia and coal
 * United States and coal
 * Carbon Capture and Storage
 * 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)