SPENCER CO, IN (WFIE) -
A public hearing was held Wednesday night on a proposed coal gasification plant in Spencer County.
The Indiana Gasification Company wants to build a new $2.5 billion plant along the Ohio River in Rockport and a billion dollar pipeline from that plant to the Gulf Coast, but some are worried about what health impact it would have.
The new plant would bring hundreds of jobs and billions of dollars to Spencer County, but some say it's not worth the cost.
"We've got Perry County, Dubois County, Orange County getting most of our pollutants. If we have a day without wind, a lot we're getting it," said concerned resident Angela Vanover.
Vanover is one of many concerned residents who came out to South Spencer High School Wednesday night.
"We'll take another look at all the comments we have received and make changes that are appropriate," said IDEM PIO Robert Elstro.
The plant would be one of the first of its kind in the entire county, gasifying coal to produce four different products.
Two would be shipped through a pipeline, synthetic natural gas and CO2. The CO2 would be capture and liquefied.
Plant partners say the natural gas would produce 17% of the supply for the state, saving rate payers one hundred million dollars over the life of the project.
The liquid CO2 would be sent via pipeline to the Gulf Coast to be injected into oil wells to reduce demand on oil from the Middle East and Venezuela by more than $1 billion a year.
Plant partners say because the pollutants will be turned into products, the plant will have low emissions.
"It would be the cleanest plant operating in the US, much cleaner than anything operating in this region," said William Rosenberg with E3 Gasification.
The developers say the plant will build rail service for the coal and two pipelines. One in Indiana for the natural gas and the other to the Gulf Coast.
Developers say the plant will employ 1,000 construction workers for 3 years.
It is also estimated to bring 200 jobs to run the plant, employ 300 miners for coal, and bring four billion dollars to the local economy over the 30 year life of the project.
"We think at least 1,500 people would move to the town. The impact on our economy and the diversity of jobs would be tremendous," said Rockport City Councilman Ferman Yearby.
But even with the economic impact, the plant will still emit mercury, lead and other pollutants. Some say with a steel plant and power plant already in Rockport they don't want more emissions.
"If this was in Evansville, there would be thousands of people at this meeting, but this is a very rural county with not a lot of population. What better could they have? Not a lot of people to complain about it," said Vanover.
If the plant and pipelines are built, it would take years of construction.
The public still has until January 30th to give comment on the permit.
To read the permit, click here.
Individuals who would like to submit a comment, but cannot attend future meetings can e-mail comments to jbalogun@idem.in.gov or mail comments to
- Indiana Department of Environmental Management Office of Air Quality, 100 North Senate Avenue, Mail Code 61-53 IGCN 1003, Indianapolis, IN 46204-2251
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