DKRW project to benefit job market
By Aaron LeClair
Boomerang Staff Writer
laramieboomerang.com
Despite a number of concerns about housing and infrastructure, the people who testified Thursday before the Wyoming Industrial Siting Council supported the construction of a $2 billion coal-to-liquid plant in Carbon County.
Officials from the communities nearest the proposed Medicine Bow Fuel & Power coal-to-liquid plant gave testimony during a hearing in front of the Industrial Siting Council in the Platte Valley Community Center in Saratoga.
They voiced their concerns about the impact that the plant would have on their rural communities, while at the same time saying they fully supported the project.
Officials with DKRW Advanced Fuels, the company that will own Medicine Bow Fuel & Power, said they will hire up to 2,300 workers during the peak period of construction from 2011-2012.
In addition to jobs directly related to the construction of the plant, conservative estimates predict the project will create more than 600 support jobs during the construction and 300 support jobs for the permanent operation, Joe Hammond, CH2M Hill senior project manager, said.
“There’s the potential to be more (workers) than that,” he said.
After construction is complete, DKRW will hire about 450 full-time workers to run both the coal-to-liquid plant and the Arch Coal underground and surface mines.
The project also will benefit the local job market by requiring local businesses to hire more service workers during and after construction.
Hammond said the project would benefit the local economy by generating about $3.7 million in sales and use taxes and $9.8 million in ad valorem taxes during the construction and initial coal production periods.
The housing and infrastructure issues are looking less rosy. Hammond said the communities that will be affected by the project — Hanna, Medicine Bow and Elk Mountain — currently do not have enough available housing to support up to 2,300 construction workers.
“No matter how you look at the numbers, there certainly is a deficit of housing,” he told the Industrial Siting Council.
DKRW plans to build a state-of-the-art man camp with 200 housing units on-site during the construction period. There will be infrastructure in place to accommodate up to 1,000 units during the peak of construction.
The camp would be made up of modular units with wireless Internet access, flat screen televisions with cable and other amenities, Jim Henry, housing plan developer and vice-president of construction for SNC-Lavalin Houston, said.
The housing plan also calls for medical and recreational facilities on-site.
Henry said DKRW plans to contract with a security company for the policing of the man camp.
For workers who live off-site, DKRW is working with local entrepreneurs to construct housing in the neighboring communities of Medicine Bow, Hanna and Rawlins.
DKRW also will run a busing service to transport workers who live off-site to cut down on traffic on Carbon County Road No. 3, the primary access into the project site.
Medicine Bow is a community of 260 people. Its mayor, Frank Brennan, told the Industrial Siting Council that his town has vacant lots for trailer parks and houses that could accommodate some of the Medicine Bow Fuel & Power workers.
“There’s a lot of lots that are available,” he testified.
Brennan was blunt when he told the Industrial Siting Council that many people in Medicine Bow support the project. He said it would do great things not only for Medicine Bow, but the entire county.
“We wish it was already started,” he said. “You just need to let them (DKRW) move forward.”
Brennan said Medicine Bow was preparing for the Medicind Bow Fuel & Power workers by repairing the town’s water lines and hiring extra law enforcement officers.
Robert Gates, superintendent of Carbon County School District No. 2, said he was looking forward to project, since it would bring in workers with school-age children.
Gates said more students would mean more money from the state based on the average daily attendance formula.
He said the district is looking at building a new elementary school in Medicine Bow that could handle up to 50 children, which is twice the number who attend the school now.
But Gates admitted that the Elk Mountain school was in need of major repairs and that the only part of it that could be salvaged was the gymnasium.
Construction and renovation of the schools within the district in preparation of the Medicine Bow Fuel & Power project should be complete by this summer.
Gates said the district could absorb up to 400 students if the administration is given enough “lead time.”
Like Medicine Bow, Hanna is preparing for the MBFP project. Linda Wagner, a town councilmember, said there are more homes and rentals available than at any time in the 10 years she has lived in Hanna.
The town council is also considering establishing a second trailer park lot, she said.
While Hanna currently has 900 residents, Wagner said it has the infrastructure in place to handle 1,800-2,000 residents.
However, Wanger said Hanna has a water treatment plant that is in dire need of reconstruction.
Wagner said Hanna would be greatly impacted by the project, since it has the only supermarket, bank, police force and landfill in the area that includes the communities of Elk Mountain and Saratoga.
In spite of those concerns, Wagner said many Hanna residents are in favor of the project for what it could do for the community’s ailing economy.
“The town is, basically, very much in favor of this project,” she said. “We think it will do wonders to help boost the (economy).”
Each of the communities that will be affected by the project was awarded impact assistance funding worth $1.28 million from the Department of Enviornmental Quality.
Carbon County will receive 75 percent of the grant money, while Albany County will take the remaining 25 percent, or $320,000. Laramie will receive $288,000 of that amount, while Rock River will take $32,500.
All of those who testified on Thursday said they were pleased with what they had received in impact assistance funding except Hanna.
Wagner said the amount of money that Hanna has received would not be sufficient to upgrade the town in preparation of the Medicine Bow Fuel & Power project. |
