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Jobs and Energy Independence Using Domestic Resources
The Many Stars Project will play an important role in assisting the Crow people in developing new long term jobs, industry and business opportunities from their sustainable and renewable sources while helping the United States address its energy security by creating a new source of cleaner-burning domestic fuels.
The United States currently imports about 60 percent of its oil, much of it from unstable or unfriendly regions of the world. Reducing our dependence on foreign oil would help to strengthen the U.S. economy by stemming the tide of U.S. wealth flowing to other nations and improve our trade balance.
U.S. coal reserves are the largest in the world and the coal resources on the Crow Reservation represent almost 3% of the U.S. total. Only a fraction of the Crow coal resources would need to be developed in a new surface mine to support the Many Stars Project for up to 70 years.
A Cleaner Approach to Sustainable Energy
Efforts to make fuller use of U.S. coal reserves have been stalled in the past due to concerns about carbon emissions and their potential impact on the global climate. However, the Many Stars Project represents a new and cleaner approach to the responsible use of domestic coal through integration with renewable biomass feedstock coupled with carbon capture and storage with innovative carbon utilization techniques.
The Many Stars Project intends to build upon six decades of global experience in fully commercial coal conversion processes and will advance this proven process with newly demonstrated technology and innovations in biomass conversion processes that will help make the Many Stars Project a leader in the sustainable and renewable alternative fuels sector. The Many Stars project is committed to be an environmentally responsible project that respects the land, water and air.
Crow Tribe Resources and Support
The Crow Tribe brings significant advantages to the Many Stars Project and is an ideal partner that has cultivated strong community support. The Crow Tribe has both a world-class size coal resource of over 10 billion tons and a large land position with over 2 million acres within the Crow Reservation. Recent settlement of water rights with the state and federal governments resulted in secure water resources for the Crow Tribe for many generations to come. Land and water resources provide the means to produce non-food biomass for use as an integrated feedstock for the Many Stars plant and for carbon capture and utilization. The Many Stars Project has committed to work with the Crow Tribe to choose technologies and development plans to minimize resources required for the project in a balanced and sustainable approach.
Workforce Development
The Many Stars facility will provide lasting economic opportunity for the region. In addition to creating up to 2,000 construction jobs and up to 900 permanent jobs, the project will stimulate the creation of numerous regional support industries. The Many Stars Project is committed to using tribal businesses to the greatest extent possible in the construction of the facility. Since 2008, the Many Stars Project has provided college scholarships and vocational training opportunities for over 100 individual Crow tribal members as part of our commitment to prepare our future employees.
Project Components and Design
The Many Stars Project intends to utilize locally-produced biomass and Crow coal from existing mines operating on the Reservation as well as a new surface mine to be developed by the Many Stars Project Group. The Many Stars production facility will produce ultra-clean transportation fuels through an advanced catalytic process that emits fewer greenhouse gases than any comparable industry process.
The Many Stars Project design will integrate coal and biomass conversion technology and will also capture carbon dioxide (or “CO2”) to significantly reduce the Many Stars Project “carbon footprint”. The CO2 will be utilized in biomass production as well as for use in enhanced oil recovery projects in the surrounding area. Additionally, permanent sequestration of remaining captured CO2 will be handled by injection into suitable deep geological structures that have been identified beneath the Crow Reservation. Combining innovative biomass-to-liquids (BTL) technologies with proven coal-to-liquids (CTL) technologies and carbon capture results in the reduction of 20% of the CO2 emissions as compared with standard oil refining methods.
Clean Fuels
The Many Stars Project design results in the production of cleaner fuels at competitive prices that reduce engine emissions of nitrogen oxide and particulate emissions and also enables use of higher efficiency engines that take advantage of the unique characteristics of the fuel. These clean fuels, including diesel, gasoline and jet fuel, have been widely demonstrated with automakers and aircraft operators, both commercial and military.
Staged Development of Smaller Units
The Many Stars Project contemplates the development of a series of 8,000 barrel per day (“BPD”) coal and biomass conversion units with later expansion up to 50,000 BPD. Sufficient coal resources are available under the Project Agreement to expand the plant up to 125,000 BPD over the Project’s 70 year operational phase. This staged approach to development provides an opportunity to construct the first unit and initiate production sooner than would otherwise be possible with a much larger initial facility. Most importantly, this approach enables a clearer path for financing of the Project.
Status and Next Steps
The Many Stars Project Agreement was signed in August 2008 and approved by the Secretary of the Department of Interior in March 2009. Under the Agreement, the Crow Tribe committed coal and water resources and the original Many Stars Investment Group committed development capital and project management. Once the project is operational, both parties will share in the project revenue and in addition, the Crow Tribe will receive royalties on coal production from the new surface mine that will be developed as part of the Project.
Since 2008, the Many Stars Project has conducted numerous product marketing and project feasibility studies. These studies included evaluating alternative technologies, performing geologic modeling and mapping for carbon sequestration and preparing preliminary designs for the integrated coal and biomass to liquids plant. A coal delineation program was also developed to enable further evaluation of coal resources and select a final site for the mine and plant.
During the next 12–18 months, the Many Stars Project Team intends to move the project forward in the following key areas, supported by an anticipated new financial partner:
- Workforce development
- Algae research and biomass resource assessment
- Coal resource assessment
- Carbon sequestration planning
- Environmental permitting
- Plant and mine site selection
- Engineering design of integrated biomass and coal process
- Government support grants
A final decision on mine and plant locations will be made after additional evaluations over the next year. The plant and mine will be located in close proximity to each other to minimize coal transportation.
For More Information
Please contact us at the Many Stars Inquiry Line (406) 638-4437
or send an e-mail request to info@manystarsctl.com
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