INSTITUTE, W.Va. – A new methanol plant in Institute drew concern from citizens at a meeting Monday night at West Virginia State University.
The founders of US Methanol, Brad Gunn and Richard Wolfli, discussed at the meeting the upcoming construction of Liberty1, a plant to be built on state Route 25. According to a release from the company, it will move an existing methanol production facility from Brazil to an 11-acre complex.
Company CEO Brad Gunn said the compound will be produced to be used by other companies based on the Kanawha River. Gunn said putting the plant in Institute made sense because of a growing demand.
Methanol is a chemical made when methane is combined with steam and pressure, and can be found in plastics and LCD screens.
“It’s all over the place,” Gunn said.
The event was hosted by People Concerned About Chemical Safety, a local nonprofit that was founded in 1985 following the Union Carbide chemical plant disaster in Bhopal, India, a year earlier. Chemicals leaking from the plant killed an estimate 4,000 people.
Pam Nixon, president of the organization’s board of directors, said the meeting was held to inform people about the plant.
“We wanted to give the community a chance to be able to get information, so that if they wanted to submit any comment, they would have informed comments that they could submit,” Nixon said.
Construction of the plant is scheduled to begin in March. Gunn said the facility would be operational by the end of 2017, and would create more than 60 permanent jobs and 300 temporary construction jobs.
Some of the more than dozen people who attended the meeting said they were worried about the possible environmental impact of the plant, making note of how previous companies have polluted the community. One moment mentioned was the 2008 explosion at the Bayer CropScience facility that killed two people and injured eight others.
Kathy Ferguson from Institute, said she cannot help but be doubtful because of the past.
“There has to be some kind of cumulative effect, and that’s concerning to me,” Ferguson said.
Ferguson said pollution related to industrial growth has driven graduates away from the area.
“It takes away from the state in the sense that young people don’t want to stay here,” Ferguson said.
Gunn said he and Wolfli want to create a different type of chemical company, adding they themselves are moving to the Charleston area to supervise the plant.
“You can view this as a clean slate,” Gunn said. “A way to make a new start. We come without any of those preconceived ideas. We have to be mindful and respectful of the past and what other companies have done.”
Neither Gunn nor Wolfli have direct experience dealing with methane production. They both, however, have a combined 45 years in the energy and technology industries.
Gunn said US Methanol is still waiting on an emission permit from the state Department of Environmental Protection, which he expects will be approved within the next 30 days.
A second facility, Liberty2, is scheduled to be built in Belle.