Manheim, Pa., Company to Buy Fuel Made From Waste Coal
By Tim Mekeel, Lancaster New Era, Pa.
Oct. 1–A Manheim company will be among the customers of the nation’s first commercial plant to make diesel fuel out of waste coal, the state announced Thursday.
Worley & Obetz will buy some of the fuel made by the $612 million plant in Mahanoy City, Schuylkill County, Gov. Ed Rendell and industry officials said in Harrisburg.
Rendell said the innovative plant will produce cleaner and cheaper diesel fuel than conventional refineries, while establishing a new domestic source of fuel that also rids the landscape of mounds of environmentally hazardous waste coal.
“Construction of this plant will transform the way America produces its own fuel,” said Rendell in a prepared statement. “For too long, OPEC and energy imports have ruled and threatened us. In Pennsylvania we are beginning to do something about that.”
Construction is set to start in the spring. The plant is expected to produce 40 million gallons of fuel annually, while waste heat generated from the process will be used to make 41 megawatts of low-cost electricity.
The state has agreed to buy 15 million gallons; most of the rest will be bought by a fuel-industry consortium that includes Worley & Obetz. Only 2 million gallons are not pre-sold, the state said.
The plant is being built by Waste Management and Processors Inc. (WMPI) of Gilberton, Schuylkill County. Construction of the plant will create 1,000 jobs. Operating the site will create 600 other jobs.
To support the venture, the state has pledged $47 million in tax credits. The federal government has pledged $100 million in grants and $465 million in loan guarantees.
Worley & Obetz has been active in obtaining alternative sources of diesel fuel for several years. It now markets diesel and home-heating versions of “bio-fuel,” made in part from soybeans.
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