Morristown council clears land deal for coal gasification facility
By Ed Marcum
Knoxville News Sentinel
Thursday, June 23, 2011
MORRISTOWN, Tenn. – The Morristown City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved measures that would clear the way for a coal gasification plant to set up operations in an industrial park near Interstate 81.
The council’s action would allow the sale of 116 acres in the East Tennessee Progress Center to Freedom Energy Diesel LLC for approximately $448,000 so the company can build a $405 million plant there.
Council members also voted to seek a grant through the Tennessee Department of Transportation to extend roads in the park, to annex two parcels of property and to award a contract to Knoxville-based Wilbur Smith and Associates for engineering services.
No one spoke in opposition, although after the meeting, Morristown minister Jim Young said he had questions about the company and its processes. However, Young said he hopes the project turns out to be a good thing for Morristown. It is expected to create about 600 jobs.
Freedom Energy Diesel previously looked at building a plant in Cumberland County’s Plateau Partnership Park. However, last month the Industrial Development Board of Cumberland, Morgan and Roane counties said it didn’t have enough information about the company to consider the proposal.
The company asked the board to donate 120 acres in Plateau Partnership Park, which is off Interstate 40 near Westel Road in Cumberland County. Freedom also wanted a railroad spur to be built for the plant and an option to buy an additional 20 acres for future expansion.
Bernie Rice, Freedom Energy Diesel’s CEO, and the company’s chief operating officer, William H. Daniels Jr., a former Knox County commissioner and TVA manager who is a senior manager with Entergy Corp., told the IDB that Freedom Energy Diesel is a limited liability company based in Georgia.
Rice said it is owned by major technology companies and not coal companies. It was formed recently but has been in development for some time and was established to provide clean energy for a set of partners that have already contracted for its fuels. The $400 million in capital already has been raised, Rice said at last month’s meeting.
Freedom Energy Diesel said it will use a proprietary process called plasma point technology to break coal into individual molecules for processing into other fuels, such as diesel, gasoline-like fuel naphtha, and activated carbon.
See article here.
Comments are closed.