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Tiny Somerset set for large coal gasification push

Print | Comments () Posted by Beth Daley June 18, 2008 03:11 PM

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By Beth Daley, Globe Staff

Tiny Somerset in Southeastern Massachusetts is shaping up to be the Northeast’s coal gasification headquarters.

A $25 million demonstration project that converts coal to clean-burning natural gas is scheduled to be built at the large Brayton Point power station.

Somerset Power Plant (NRG Energy Inc.)

But it is a second proposal at a smaller coal-fired power plant in the community that is raising residents’ ire. Last week, that plant moved another step closer to gasification after a state environmental judge moved to dismiss an appeal by 12 Somerset area citizens challenging the state’s decision to allow it.

Coal gasification uses extraordinarily high heat to covert coal to synthetic gas and has been touted by some as a solution to the country’s energy woes. The process can capture pollutants that make coal burning so dirty, including carbon dioxide, the key culprit in global warming. The idea is to pump the CO2 underground where it can remain sequestered for hundreds of years.

But that is only an idea. Only two commercial coal gasification plants have been built in the country – and neither sequesters carbon dioxide. If sequestration is going to work, scientists say, it is likely going to work in places that have lots of underground geological pores to put it. Think Wyoming. Not Massachusetts.

That’s why the Somerset residents, represented by the Conservation Law Foundation, are so angry. They say there is no known way to sequester the gas at Somerset, meaning that carbon dioxide will continue to spew from the plant for decades to come.

The power plant has been the subject of controversy in large part because the plant's owners have changed course since the former owners said in 2003 that they intended to shut down the facility in 2010 or switch to a far cleaner fuel to meet tough new air quality rules in Massachusetts.

New owners NRG Energy Inc. said their gasification technology is cleaner because it reduces pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and pledged to research possible sequestration of the gas.

This fall, the plant received preliminary approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection for its proposal, which would make it the first coal plant in the world to use the plasma process. The Conservation Law Foundation, supported by other environmental groups, petitioned for a more extensive environmental review, saying the carbon dioxide emissions constituted harm to the environment and that was enough to trigger a stricter review.

But the state turned down that request, saying the plant was not going to harm the environment in any additional way and in fact would be reducing some pollutants.

The judge’s decision last week was based on an appeal of that decision. The state Department of Environmental Protection has 30 days to issue a final determination based on the judge’s recommendation. Now the citizens say they will take the issue to the state Superior Court.

"Coal is dirty and bad for our health and this community. We are going to continue to fight this and will not rest until Somerset Station is held accountable and cleans up -- for real -- or closes down," said Pauline Rodrigues, a Somerset resident opposed to the project.

tags coal, coal gasification, NRG, plasma, Power plant, Somerset