Ohio River Clean Fuels LLC did not submit a Phase 2 application for the Department of Energy Loan Guarantee Program offered for coal power projects with carbon capture and sequestration. Baard Energy decided not to pursue DOE loan guarantees for the Ohio River Clean Fuels project due to lawsuits. Phase 2 applications were due March 23, 2009.Phase 1 loan guarantee applications were due December 23, 2008. Since Ohio River Clean Fuels issued a press release stating that they did not submit submit a Phase 2 application, it’s implicit that they did submit a Phase 1 application.

Baard Energy is the developer of the Ohio River Clean Fuels project. Baard issued a statement that a decision was made to drop out of the running for the DOE Loan Guarantee Program, because of lawsuits filed by the Sierra Club and the Natural Resource Defense Council. The Ohio River Clean Fuels project has received the necessary permits from the State, but the lawsuits challenge the legality of the permits.

According to Baard Energy, conversations with DOE officials after the Phase 1 application was submitted revealed that the DOE would consider the lawsuits when evaluating the project risk profile.

Based on this information, Baard Energy decided to drop out of the DOE Loan Guarantee Program and did not submit a Phase 2 application. The Phase 2 application includes a non-refundable application fee of $600,000 and, of course, there would be considerable cost to Baard Energy involved in producing the documentation required for a phase 2 application.