Port Authority updated on Baard progress

EAST LIVERPOOL - A labor agreement between the various trade unions and Baard Energy for construction of the company's planned coal conversion plant near Wellsville should be finalized within 30 days, a trade spokesman said.

Don Crane, president of the Western Reserve Building & Construction Trades Council, addressed members of the Columbiana County Port Authority Board during their meeting Monday, along with Steve Dopuch, Baard Energy Vice President of Business Development.

Dopuch and Crane updated board members on the progress of the $6 billion project which could put up to 4,000 workers on the job over the five-year construction phase. They explained that one labor agreement will cover all the trades, from iron workers to carpenters to bricklayers and boiler makers and the remaining trades.

"We're going to use every craft," Crane said, with a construction agreement to keep Baard removed from any grievance procedures and protected if a certain trade's union contract ends or the workers from an individual trade go out on strike.

They'll have to keep working on the Baard project, he said.

"We're pretty excited about it," Crane said, noting it's good for all of them for the project to move forward.

Dopuch said it's important to the company to have a good, tight relationship with labor, with tens of millions of man hours required to build the plant.

He also said the company's still hopeful some different rules will be put in place at the U.S. Department of Energy where other funding could become available in a couple of months. He had no idea on the amount at this point, saying they're talking to the governor's office and people in the Department of Energy in an effort to make it possible.

Baard Energy announced last month it was withdrawing its application for $2.5 billion from the U.S. Department of Energy's Loan Guarantee Program due to the delays challenges from environmental groups could cause to the financing. The Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Counsel both filed lawsuits to challenge the permits approved by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Port Authority Chief Executive Officer Tracy Drake said the value of the project to the state of Ohio is tremendous and is the one coal project that captures CO2, which he thought would make the environmental groups champion the project.

"We're still scratching our heads as to why they're still fussing about it," Drake said.

The port board authorized borrowing $500,000 from CF Bank until grant funds are received from the state of Ohio to cover renewal of the options on the land for the Baard project. Drake said he thought the action had already been approved, but they decided to pass a resolution to ensure the action.

In other action, the board approved a master services agreement with Tetra Tech NUS, Inc. for environmental monitoring and remediation, with Drake saying this will allow them to move quicker when monitoring work is needed done instead of having to do separate contracts. The board also approved a separate contract with Tetra Tech for groundwater monitoring and report preparation for $9,250 for the former Eljer Plumbingware facility in Salem. The monitoring is required on an annual basis due to the disposal of waste materials on the site by the former tub manufacturer.

The board also approved a replacement lease to lease office space at the port building to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency at a cost of $3,720 annually.