The Dakota Resource Council files a complaint with North Dakota Public Service Commission to halt the construction of the coal beneficiation plant for the South Heart Gasification plant. In January 2009, the Dakota Resource Council with other nearby landowners filed a complaint with the North Dakota Public Service Commission stating that the beneficiation plant under construction for the South Heart Gasification plant without a permit should, in fact, be required to apply for a permit per North Dakota law.

GTL Energy has begun the construction of the coal beneficiation plant with the understanding that it had a decision by the North Dakota Public Service Commission that a permit was not necessary. GTL Energy is the supplier of the lignite beneficiation process technology. The GTL beneficiation process will remove most of the water and creates a coal briquette.

The Dakota Resource Council along with several land owners is challenging both the gasification plant and the beneficiation facility. The Dakota Resource Council has sent a formal complaint to the Public Service Commission (PSC) stating among other things that the PSC was outside of the law of North Dakota to approve the construction of the beneficiation plant without issuing a permit. At issue is the definition of the beneficiation plant. If the coal beneficiation plant is considered to be an integral part of the coal mine, then it’s likely that the PSC will have to retract it’s approval and GTL Energy will have to seek a permit.

Great Northern Power Development and Allied Syngas are developing a coal gasification plant near South Heart, ND. The joint venture submitted an application to the Stark County Planning and Zoning Commission with a request to re-zone land near South Heart that was zoned for agricultural use to change the zone to industrial for coal mining.

Picture of SVZ Schwarz Pumpe Plant

The Great Northern Power Development L.P. and Allied Syngas Corporation joint venture continues to proceed with the planning to construct a $1.4 billion coal gasification plant near South Heart, ND. Great Northern and Allied Syngas are proceeding with the South Heart gasification plant and have selected GTL Energy for coal beneficiation. The plant will produce substitute natural gas (SNG). SNG meets the specifications for petroleum natural gas and is pipeline quality gas. The SNG will power gas turbines to produce electricity for the use in the state of North Dakota.

The plant feedstock is lignite. Lignite is a low rank coal that is common in the U.S. Great Northern conducted a study to determine the best technology for using lignite to produce electricity and determined that gasification is the optimum technology solution. The project will use seven Allied Syngas’ BGL gasifiers to produce up to 100MMCF/day of SNG.

The project is environmentally friendly. The project will remove the CO2 from the syngas. The CO2 will be used for enhanced oil recovery in nearby oil fields or sequestered in deep geologic formations known to be suitable for long term storage of CO2. The project is designed for low water use and is not expected to impact local water sources.

Construction is expected to begin in late 2009 or 2010. It’s scheduled to be complete in 2012. At the peak employment stage, the project will employ over 1,000 construction and support personnel.

The lignite feedstock is a high moisture content coal. An Australian company, GTL Energy, has a proprietary coal “beneficiation” process to remove the moisture from the coal. GTL Energy’s process was selected for the South Heart gasification plant. This process removes up to 80% of the water and creates a coal briquet. GTL Energy has begun construction of the coal beneficiation plant.