'Groundbreaking on an industry': Frontieras breaks ground on Mason County coal plant

“Today we’re commissioning a first-of-its-kind technology that we’ve patented all over the world on five continents and nine countries that cover 85% of global coal production. We’re more than groundbreaking on a project; we’re groundbreaking on an industry,� McKean explained before the ceremony began.

“We’re not a power company. We’re not a coal-mining company. We crack the molecules inside of coal into other products.�

He described similar attempts to transform coal into other products, such as gasification or coal-to-liquids, as “antiquated� and “not environmentally friendly.� And they’re not economical, he said.

He told people at the event that every molecule that comes into the plant will go out as another product. Among the products the plant will make from coal are 15,000 barrels per day of diesel fuel, low-sulfur carbon, sulfuric acid and fertilizer, he said.

Frontieras has 183 acres it bought earlier this year from the Bartow Jones family. It sits between the state highway and the Ohio River, and a CSX Transportation track runs through it. The site is a few miles north of Point Pleasant. It’s across from the Kyger Creek Power Plant, which is about a mile below the Gen. James M. Gavin Power Plant. Both were running during Thursday’s event.

Doug Remy, vice president of corporate affairs for Frontieras, said the company put the property under contract about four years ago and formally purchased it in January.

McKean said the first phase of the project will use about 35% of the land, and the second phase will use the rest.

He told the audience that Frontieras tested its production process at a site in Texas. When it came time to build the actual plant, the company chose the West Virginia site over one in Texas, and it chose West Virginia coal over coal from the Powder River Basin, Germany and Australia.

The plant will use 2.7 million tons of coal per year that will come from northern West Virginia and arrive by barge. Finished products will be shipped out by both barge and rail, McKean said.

Joe Witherspoon, Frontieras’ chief technology officer and co-founder, said the first phase of the plant will have 200 to 250 employees when it is finished. About 2,000 to 2,500 workers will be on site during construction, he said. The project is expected to cost $850 million to complete.

Once the first phase is up and running satisfactorily, the second phase will begin immediately, and similar numbers of workers will be involved, he said.

After the ceremony, Witherspoon said people driving by the site won’t see much construction activity for a while. The site plan is still being developed, and there are permits the site must still receive. Trees and old farm buildings must be removed, and possible historic sites must be dealt with, he said.

The historical preservation part “is going to take some time,� he said.

“I don’t think I can answer the question of how visible the changes will be, but things will be moving,� he said.

Chris Hamilton, president of the West Virginia Coal Association, said coal will come from an American Consolidated Natural Resources (formerly Murray Energy) mine about 130 miles up the river from the Frontieras plant site.

Gov. Patrick Morrisey was the last speaker before people used shovels to toss dirt to mark the ceremonial beginning of construction.

“Frontieras is now an integral part of the West Virginia family,� he said.