Bakersfield - Developers of a proposed $4 billion electrical plant on the western edge of Kern County will get another six months to see if they can make the project work, the state energy commission ruled Friday. The U.S. government has pledged up to $400 million to help build the plant, and $153 million in taxpayer money already has been spent.
Several environmental groups asked the energy commission to pull plug on the proposal after one of its key partners withdrew from the project.
Hydrogen Energy California – HECA – plans to burn coal to create electricity. A byproduct of the burning is carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that must be captured and not released into the atmosphere for HECA to qualify as a clean energy project. The tentative plan was to ship the carbon dioxide to a facility operated by Occidental Petroleum. The gas would be used in a nearby field to help tease oil out of the ground.
But Occidental Petroleum dissolved, and the plant’s developers have not been able to find someone to take the carbon dioxide.
With that element of the plan stalled, the Sierra Club, HECA Neighbors and the Associated of Irritated Residents asked the energy commission to kill the HECA project.
Instead, the commission gave the company at least another six months to try to solve the problem.
The federal government pledged $408 million dollars to help build the plant west of Bakersfield near the town of Tupman. Close to $153 million has been spent, mostly from a stimulus program aimed at creating jobs with shovel-ready projects.
The U.S. Department of Energy pledged roughly $408 million to help build the plant.
Five years later after that pledge was made, the owner of the project, SCS Energy, spent about $153 million of that federal taxpayer money from the stimulus program aimed at creating jobs with shovel-ready projects after the recent recession, according to a 17 News investigation.
But no shovel has hit the ground and only 27 jobs have been created. That's $5.5 million per job.
The HECA plant also requires coal to burn, and too is embroiled in controversy. The City of Wasco approved the expansion of the Savage Coal facility in March to increase its annual shipments from 900,000 tons to 1.5 million tons to help facilitate the HECA plant's needs. But Tom Frantz of Associated of Irritated Residents and the Sierra Club have sued Wasco, saying a proper environmental review was never performed.
SCS Energy is paying savage $35,000 a month for the option of using the coal and has paid close to $100,000 to help Savage Coal fight the suit.
Several environmental groups asked the energy commission to pull plug on the proposal after one of its key partners withdrew from the project.
Hydrogen Energy California – HECA – plans to burn coal to create electricity. A byproduct of the burning is carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that must be captured and not released into the atmosphere for HECA to qualify as a clean energy project. The tentative plan was to ship the carbon dioxide to a facility operated by Occidental Petroleum. The gas would be used in a nearby field to help tease oil out of the ground.
But Occidental Petroleum dissolved, and the plant’s developers have not been able to find someone to take the carbon dioxide.
With that element of the plan stalled, the Sierra Club, HECA Neighbors and the Associated of Irritated Residents asked the energy commission to kill the HECA project.
Instead, the commission gave the company at least another six months to try to solve the problem.
The federal government pledged $408 million dollars to help build the plant west of Bakersfield near the town of Tupman. Close to $153 million has been spent, mostly from a stimulus program aimed at creating jobs with shovel-ready projects.
The U.S. Department of Energy pledged roughly $408 million to help build the plant.
Five years later after that pledge was made, the owner of the project, SCS Energy, spent about $153 million of that federal taxpayer money from the stimulus program aimed at creating jobs with shovel-ready projects after the recent recession, according to a 17 News investigation.
But no shovel has hit the ground and only 27 jobs have been created. That's $5.5 million per job.
The HECA plant also requires coal to burn, and too is embroiled in controversy. The City of Wasco approved the expansion of the Savage Coal facility in March to increase its annual shipments from 900,000 tons to 1.5 million tons to help facilitate the HECA plant's needs. But Tom Frantz of Associated of Irritated Residents and the Sierra Club have sued Wasco, saying a proper environmental review was never performed.
SCS Energy is paying savage $35,000 a month for the option of using the coal and has paid close to $100,000 to help Savage Coal fight the suit.