Friedmann is the leader of the Carbon Management Program at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which has been researching Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) for 30 years, building 16 pilot plants in the U.S. over that period. Although the basic technology is not new, it was historically unable to make inroads against $10/bbl oil or $1.50/therm natural gas. But now, Friedmann claims, it is cheaper to produce synthetic natural gas from coal using UCG than to purchase wellhead natural gas at $8 per 100,000 BTU.
" Friedmann cautioned that the UCG process had to be carefully engineered and managed to avoid subsidence and water table contamination. He pointed to LLNL's second UCG pilot plant at Hoe Creek in Wyoming, where, in the 1970s, the water table was contaminated when a gasification cavity collapsed, connecting coal to a previously unconnected aquifer. This was a direct result, said Friedmann, of "bad site selection, bad management and bad operation." Yet he felt assured that the series of 31 successful pilot projects (and one additional failure) following that pioneering debacle had provided the knowledge to prevent future problems "
Is CXY going to indemnify the Government against possible water comtamination? And what insurer would cover that sort of risk?
CXY Price at posting:
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