TCEP will Create Thousands of Jobs Grow West Texas Economy
WASHINGTON U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) led a delegation of Texas lawmakers in encouraging Energy Secretary Steven Chu to direct f
unding to the Texas Clean Energy Project (TCEP) in West Texas. This funding could be made in the form of grants or loan guarantees.
TCEP would incorporate proven carbon capture technologies in the production of electricity. The project would result in 2000 construction jobs 120 full-time plant jobs and hundreds of engineering jobs to deploy and commercialize carbon capture and sequestration technology. Additionally TCEP will help increase domestic oil production by using enhanced oil recovery which is a design component of the TCEP.
The stimulus bill allocated $1.52 billion for competitive solicitation for industrial carbon capture projects such as TCEP.
In the letter to Secretary Chu Sen. Hutchison and the Texas delegation wrote:
As the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) begins the important task of implementing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) we would like to bring to your attention an important clean energy project in Texas that will utilize advanced carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology while providing thousands of jobs that will stimulate the economy in rural areas of West Texas.
The Texas Clean Energy Project (TCEP) is an Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) project to be built in Penwell near Midland-Odessa on one of the two FutureGen finalist sites in Texas. The site has an already-prepared environmental impact statement as part of the CCS effort originally planned for FutureGen and sits on the Permian Basin where more than 30 million tons of carbon dioxide are already being injected annually without incident for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). CCS through EOR has been safely practiced in Texas for decades. It is a proven carbon sequestration technique.
TCEP is designed to capture carbon in excess of 70. It will capture more carbon than any commercial-scale power plant currently in operation anywhere in the world. It will also have lower carbon emissions per megawatt of power produced than any commercial-scale fossil fuel plant generating power today. The TCEP will produce 345 MW in total and capture three million tons or more of CO2 annually.
In addition through EOR this CO2 will also increase oil production in the Permian Basin which produces 20 of the nations domestic oil supply. Most importantly this project will result in 2000 construction jobs more than a hundred full-time family wage jobs at the plant itself and hundreds if not thousands of engineering and equipment fabrication jobs both for TCEP and through the CCS technology and infrastructure to be deployed and commercialized at the site.
We believe this project will help pave the way for future CCS projects worldwide and can be an example to the nation for the development of clean energy. TCEP complements the Administrations goals of using technology to develop clean energy while also decreasing our dependence upon foreign sources through EOR.
The AARA funded the DOE Office of Fossil Energy at a total of $3.4 billion of which $1.52 billion was directed toward competitive solicitation for industrial carbon capture and energy efficiency projects. We ask you to consider these and other stimulus funds as well as other DOE funds and program support to move this project to completion.
TCEP enjoys broad and bi-partisan support from the Texas Congressional Delegation the Texas State Legislature and the local community where TCEP will be constructed. This project will help commercialize technology that is available now and allow the U.S. to use one of its most abundant natural resources to cleanly power our economy homes small businesses and our future.
/S/
Cosigners included
Sen. Cornyn and
Reps. Barton Brady Burgess Carter Conaway Cuellar Culberson Edwards Gohmert Gonzales Granger A. Green G. Green Hall Hinojosa E.B. Johnson S. Johnson Marchant McCaul Neugebauer Olson Paul Poe Rodriguez Sessions Smith and
Thornberry.
