Bucking the current trend of building natural gas-fueled powerplants, Reliant Energy Seward LLC — a unit of the Reliant EnergyWholesale Group — reported that it has plans in the works tobuild a power generating facility in western Pennsylvania that willuse the latest clean-coal technology on waste coal.

The new 520 MW plant is scheduled to be operational in 2004, andwill replace a coal-fired 200 MW plant on the current industrialsite in Indiana County, PA. The choice to go with coal rather thannatural gas was made by the company for a number of reasons,including the development of circulating fluidized bed (CFB)clean-coal technology.

“The technology will allow the use of waste coal as the primaryfuel source, providing an opportunity to clean up piles of wastecoal, which are abundant in the area,” said Curt Morgan, of theeast region Reliant Energy Wholesale Group. “Any coal required tosupplement the waste coal is expected to be purchased from thePennsylvania market.”

The company said that within the plant’s first 15 years, morethan 40 million tons of coal refuse will be removed from sites inCambria, Indiana, and Somerset counties, with additional sitesunder consideration. In all, more than 100 million tons of wastecoal could be removed during the life of the project.

In addition to cleaning up the landscape, the plant will removea significant source of acid discharge from the Kiskiminetas-Conemaugh River watersheds, enhancing the efforts of environmentalgroups working to clean up the waterway, the company said.

Use of the CFB technology also will improve air quality,according to the company, providing yet another environmentaladvantage. Air emissions will decrease significantly despite thefact that the station will be approximately two and a-half timeslarger and, unlike the existing plant, the new station will runalmost continuously.

“The Seward project is really three great stories rolled intoone,” said Samuel McCullough, secretary of the PennsylvaniaDepartment of Community and Economic Development. He said it offers”more jobs for Pennsylvania families, a reliable supply ofadditional power, and a cleaner environment.”

A spokeswoman for Reliant said construction will begin as soonas all state and national permits have been approved.

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