{"id":4625,"date":"2019-03-11T13:49:43","date_gmt":"2019-03-11T19:49:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/?p=4625"},"modified":"2019-03-11T13:57:23","modified_gmt":"2019-03-11T19:57:23","slug":"huntingburg-option-for-plants-wastewater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/?p=4625","title":{"rendered":"Huntingburg option for plant\u2019s wastewater"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

March 11, 2019 – by Olivia Ingle in the DuBois County Herald<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Huntingburg, Indiana’s drinking water lake (shown) is being suggested by multiple economic development agencies to be used as a dump for a proposed coal to diesel refinery’s waste water in SW Indiana. They are making this effort to save the company proposing the refinery from having to build a twenty mile pipeline to the Ohio River to dump their waste and instead build a seven mile pipe to the drinking water lake. Photo \u00a9 2019 BlairPhotoEVV<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Officials involved with the proposal of locating Riverview Energy\u2019s direct coal hydrogenation plant on the north side of Dale are considering options for discharge of the plant\u2019s wastewater, and Huntingburg has been included in the conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Huntingburg Mayor Denny Spinner said any conversation has been \u201cvery informal,\u201d however, he was told that if the plant goes in, the company will be looking for places to accept the water discharge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey asked if water resources were available, would Huntingburg be interested? I said we\u2019d be interested,\u201d Spinner said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added: \u201cAs mayor, I responded by saying we would like to be a part of that conversation, because I believe it\u2019s in the city\u2019s best interest to be informed of all the potential effects such a project should have on our city if it is approved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Huntingburg is in the midst of planned water upgrades, and Spinner said the city is \u201calways looking\u201d for other water resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he said there has been no proposal brought by Riverview Energy or any other officials involved with the proposed Dale project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShould there be any proposal, it would be thoroughly studied by the city [and] our water department to determine what\u2019s in the best interest of the city,\u201d Spinner said. \u201cIf it has any merit at all, it would go through the full review process from our utility board.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Riverview Energy has proposed a $2.5 billion direct coal hydrogenation plant \u2014 also referred to as a coal-to-diesel plant \u2014 to be located on more than 500 acres of newly-annexed land on the north side of Dale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the company, \u201cdirect coal-hydrogenation is a unique clean-coal technology that uses pressure and hydrogen to convert coal into ultra-low diesel fuel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It would convert 1.6 million tons of coal, and produce 4.8 million barrels of clean diesel and 2.5 million barrels of Naphtha each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Riverview Energy has stressed the process doesn\u2019t burn or gasify coal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its air permit application to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, Riverview Energy proposed its water supply to come via pipeline from the Ohio River. It also proposed that the plant\u2019s processed wastewater leave the same way, once treated, back to the Ohio River<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Blair, president of the environmental group Valley Watch and an active member of the Spencer County Citizens for Quality of Life group opposed to Riverview Energy\u2019s project, heard about Huntingburg being approached for Riverview\u2019s water when someone gave him a recording of a telephone conversation Spinner had about it with the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. Blair is worried about the contaminants that could be in the discharge water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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John Blair, Valley Watch president, is incredulous about a proposal to dump coal refinery waste water into the Huntingburg drinking water reservoir.”This is preposterous,” says Blair. Photo: Mary Blair<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe whole idea of taking refinery wastewater and putting it in a drinking water lake … is preposterous to me,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t even know why they\u2019d come up with that idea.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the recording, Spinner is heard asking questions about the water, such as: What is the state of the water when we receive it? Would there be a cost for us to accept it? Can our water facility handle more water? Are we only part of the solution?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The representative with the Indiana Economic Development corporation didn\u2019t have any answers for him.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

Spinner did say that \u201cin initial talks, [the discharge water] would just be introduced into our current reservoir, lake, and then it would go through our treatment plant to be treated for consumption by the citizens and by our own industry. We would still be, in essence, getting raw water, but it\u2019s gone from the Ohio River, to this plant and then to us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tom Utter, executive director of the Lincolnland Economic Development Corporation, is responsible for recruiting Riverview Energy to Spencer County. He\u2019s also the one considering all possible options for the company\u2019s water discharge. Besides Huntingburg, he wouldn\u2019t divulge other possibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tom Utter, Executive Director of LincolnLand Economic Development Corp. was one of only seven people to speak favorably toward the proposal in a December hearing where 47 spoke against it. Photo: BlairPhotoEVV<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

He cited an Indiana Chamber of Commerce report completed in 2014 that indicated new development could put a strain on the state\u2019s water supply in years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy job is to look at regional opportunities, and I thought, \u2018Wow, if there\u2019s a large project requiring a large volume of process water, what if the process water being planned for the project, what if we oversized the supply and made it available to other communities in the future, if they wanted it?\u201d Utter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He believes Riverview Energy\u2019s proposed plant could be that large project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf any additional water going into or toward that plant can be used for something, or if water coming out of it, I\u2019ve got companies coming here and wanting to know if they can use it to create another business,\u201d Utter said. \u201cThat is what economic developers are supposed to do. I just open it up to any possibility that\u2019s out there. I don\u2019t make the final decisions, but I certainly will open up the doors for opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He sees a lot of potential opportunity the Riverview Energy plant could bring for economic development. For example, he said its resources, such as water, could help development at the Holland exit on Interstate 64, the Spencer County side of the Ferdinand exit on I-64 and the interchange at I-64 and U.S. 231 north of Dale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving recruited a very large project, we\u2019re looking to leverage it for the region in every way possible,\u201d Utter said, \u201cbe that water, other forms of infrastructure, process water. If the discharge water can be used for another industry or to supply some needed benefit, very good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Riverview Energy development is still in the permitting process and is currently awaiting a decision from IDEM on whether or not to issue the project an air permit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IDEM is several months from making a final determination on the permit, according to agency spokesman Barry Sneed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAgency staff continue to work through the comments received during the notice period and at the public hearing,\u201d he said in an emailed statement. \u201cIDEM will address each comment submitted, and, due to the sheer volume and the highly technical aspects of many comments, and the detailed responses IDEM must draft, IDEM doesn\u2019t expect to issue a decision for several months.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the agency responds to the comments, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will have 45 days to review the permit before it\u2019s issued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[If the] EPA does not approve the permit, they would either provide comments that IDEM would need to address or they would simply indicate that they have completed their review and that they have no comments,\u201d Sneed said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

March 11, 2019 – by Olivia Ingle in the DuBois County Herald Officials involved with the proposal of locating Riverview Energy\u2019s direct coal hydrogenation plant on the north side of Dale are considering options for discharge of the plant\u2019s wastewater, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[445,446,167,419,29,170],"class_list":["post-4625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-coal-refinery","tag-huntingburg","tag-indiana-pollution","tag-riverview-energy","tag-valley-watch","tag-water-pollution"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4625"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4635,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4625\/revisions\/4635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/valleywatch.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}