Environmental activists asked state energy officials to declare an end to a Massachusetts-based company’s proposal to build a $4 billion clean coal plant near Tupman.
Saying work on the project appears to have stalled, the Sierra Club joined two local groups in petitioning the California Energy Commission to “terminate” SCS Energy California LLC’s Hydrogen Energy California proposal.
“It’s time for the CEC to close the book on this dangerous project and bring some much needed peace of mind to the people of Kern County,” Evan Gillespie, the Sierra Club’s western deputy director for its Beyond Coal campaign, said in a written statement.
Local groups opposed to the project — HECA Neighbors and the Association of Irritated Residents — were part of the petition.
HECA would turn coal and petroleum coke into fertilizer and, in times of peak demand, electricity for the state’s power grid. The federal government has pledged the project $408 million because of its innovative plan to divert the plant’s byproduct carbon dioxide to the Elk Hills oil field in a way that would enhance petroleum production. HECA would employ about 200 workers.
Neighbors and environmentalists have criticized the project’s expected emissions, its proposed use of nearby groundwater and its plans to store chemicals such as anhydrous ammonia. Kern County officials have also asserted they may be unable to handle all the project’s waste.