Joe McGinn, spokesman for SunCoke, said Ohio rules require facilities that produce 50 megawatts or more of electricity — about what was planned for the local plant — to get a certificate from the siting board. In order to circumvent the requirement, SunCoke will produce less electricity.
“We looked at all the options and opportunities we had and weighed those all and decided this was the best and the outcome that made the most sense to move forward and to make sure we stay on schedule and complete the project by 2011,” he said.
The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Dec. 1, that the siting board erred by denying it had jurisdiction to review the environmental impact of coke ovens that are to be part of the cogeneration station at the SunCoke plant being built off Yankee Road. The court had sent back the application to the siting board for consideration.
Construction, which started in April, is expected to remain on schedule, with the plant in operation by September 2011, SunCoke officials said.
Originally the company said it would capture waste heat from the coke plant, convert it to steam, and then use the steam to generate about 50 megawatts of electricity. To stay within regulation, McGinn said SunCoke will slightly redesign the facility to assure its electrical generation never exceeds 50 megawatts. He estimated the plant will produce about 46 megawatts annually.
The changes will not impact any jobs planned for the facility — estimated to be about 86 total — nor the amount of emissions the plant will produce, McGinn said. The company did not release what sort of financial impact the reduction will have, but McGinn said “it certainly caps the amount of electricity we can sell to the grid.”
Alan McCoy, spokesman for AK Steel, said Monroe has “successfully reduced” the facility’s electrical facility. In essence, he said, the facility will be less cost effective and environmentally efficient because Middletown Works will have to buy more energy off the grid likely produced by burning coal or natural gas — instead of using waste heat.
“It makes the project more expensive and less valuable to the owner and to the recipient — who is us — but it will proceed,” he said.
The city of Monroe, which borders where the plant is being built, initiated the appeal of SunCoke’s power siting certificate to the Ohio Supreme Court.
Chris Walker, an attorney representing Monroe, said SunCoke is avoiding allowing the power siting board to consider the company’s “irresponsible decision” to build a plant next to Monroe neighborhoods and not inside AK’s fence.
“This is yet another example of SunCoke’s determination to evade the legal requirements that are designed to protect the public from the impacts of its coke plant,” Walker said.
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