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Crow Legislature Ratifies $7B CTL Project
7 August 2008
Seattle PI. The Crow Legislature has ratified a 50-year development agreement with Australian-American Energy Co., a subsidiary of Australian Energy Co. to pursue a $7B coal-to-liquids plant. Further details of the project will be announced on Friday during a press conference.
The Many Stars coal-to-liquids plant initially would produce 50,000 barrels a day of diesel and other fuels. Construction would begin in several years and coal for the project would come from a mine yet to be developed by the tribe on the reservation, Crow leaders said.
The tribe’s chairman, Carl Venne, said the coal-to-liquids project offered an unprecedented chance at improving the lives of the tribe’s 12,000 members. The agreement calls for the Crow to receive up to 50 percent of profits from the plant after investors in the project recoup their costs. “It means we will become self sufficient as a tribe,” Venne said. “I won’t need no more federal dollars. I won’t need no more state dollars.”
Annual revenue to the tribe could eventually top $1 billion. The tribe’s current budget is about $26 million.
The Crow reservation sits atop an estimated 9 billion tons of recoverable coal resources.
August 7, 2008 in Brief | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
Comments
Posted by: gr | August 08, 2008 at 12:10 PM
I wonder how good all that coal mining the Navajo Nation has been doing benefits the typical Navajo?
Posted by: tom deplume | August 08, 2008 at 01:12 PM
This is better than ca,sinos!
Posted by: ejj | August 08, 2008 at 04:56 PM
Many coal to liquid fuel facilities need to be built in the US. They should all be optimised to produce methanol except for a few that will produce military jet fuel. They should be built to avoid the speculation that the US government has allowed in the oil market. The monies paid in excess of production cost at oil wells could pay for all such plants in a single years time. ..HG..
Posted by: Henry Gibson | November 06, 2008 at 02:53 PM
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While this appears to be a boon for the tribe - you must wonder if this doesn't turn the land into a little Saudi. There, the population simply clips resource coupons, while foreign workers do everything else.
The Crow might consider a deal where they require an equivalent biodiesel facility to match the CTL. With the combination of two feedstocks (e.g. algae & CTL) they could help wean the diesel fleet (and jet fuel) off pure fossil and onto a B50 or higher blend. More importantly, they would leave the land less scarred, the air purer and they would have a resource viable for future generations.