CHARLESTON, W.Va.-
Although most take it for granted, West Virginia has one distinct advantage in the growing race for alternate sources of energy: water.
Without an abundant supply, coal-to-liquids power plants are hard to run. And with major coal-producing states in the West like Montana and Wyoming having relatively low water supplies, advocates of a new Senate bill say West Virginia is in a good position to reap economic benefits.
“This is the moon shot for West Virginia,” said Sen. John Unger, D-Berkeley. “This will take us from being 49th and 50th to being top 10.”
The bill, backed by Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, is fairly modest on paper. It would propose continuing the state Department of Environmental Protection’s water-use survey, creating county water-use boards and establishing regional water resource management commissions.
The goal is to inventory the state’s water resources and create a comprehensive plan for how those resources could be used. Ultimately, Unger envisions a system under which the state would know exactly how much water is available for economic development projects. Companies requiring large amounts of water would be required to secure certificates for their projects.
Unger said it’s important to begin preparing now for what he says will be a growing interest in alternative-fuel plants, which require a large amount of water.
“This is what makes us different,” he said. “We need to protect it, we need to leverage it and use it for economic development.”
The development of fuel oil from coal is being pitched across the country as a means to break U.S. dependency on foreign oil. This week, U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Virginia, announced plans to introduce a bill in Congress that would provide price guarantees to investors to encourage construction of coal-to-liquids conversion plants.
Although no such plants exist in the United States, Colorado-based Rentech Inc. signed a joint development agreement in December with the public Mingo County Redevelopment Authority aimed at building a coal-to-liquids plant by 2012.
The proposed plant would convert synthesis gas, a combination of hydrogen and carbon monoxide produced from coal, into 3 million to 9 million barrels of clean-burning transportation fuel per year.
West Virginia is a good location for such efforts, according to West Virginia University natural resource economist Jerald Fletcher. But it’s not just because of the state’s abundance of coal—it’s because of water.
“When you get to coal-to-liquid development, that’s going to be one of West Virginia’s most important advantages vis-a-vis Wyoming and Montana,” he said.
Wyoming is the largest coal-producing state in the country, with West Virginia second. Montana is the sixth-largest coal-producing state, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.
Fletcher has examined the ongoing attempts to create coal-to-liquids plants in China, which is far ahead of the United States in developing the technology. Although coal liquefaction is being pushed by the Chinese government as a major part of the country’s economic expansion, the major problem with the plant now under way is water.
China’s Coal Research Institute estimates that a plant being constructed in Inner Mongolia will require 360 gallons of water to produce every barrel of synthetic fuel oil—and that the water resources just aren’t available.
“One of their big questions is, where are they going to get the water to do this?” Fletcher said.
Previous discussions of water protection plans in West Virginia generated concerns from businesses that the Legislature planned to impose what would amount to a water tax.
Steve Roberts, president of the state Chamber of Commerce, said that while the group hasn’t endorsed the bill, it doesn’t oppose it.
“We’re not reading it with an eye towards saying this is bad policy,” he said. “We’re reading it with an eye towards understanding how this will work, and whether it’s practical for counties.”
