Company says Montana coal plant moving forward

HELENA, Montana - An Australian company proposing a coal-to-liquids plant on a Montana Indian reservation said Tuesday that the project is moving forward despite the shrinking economy and low energy prices.

Australian-American Energy Co. also said the weekend death of Crow tribal Chairman Carl Venne, who was instrumental in the original deal, will not scuttle the project.

Company vice president Kenneth Roberts said the downturn in oil prices to less than $40 a barrel is not going to delay the $7-billion project, he said, even though the plant won't break even if oil prices are below $75 to $80 a barrel.

"We are not going to let any short-term setback, be it from the economic situation or otherwise, slow us down," Roberts told Gov. Brian Schweitzer in the Tuesday meeting. "The point is, we have a long-term view."

Roberts said the company has set up offices on the reservation and expects to have a site for the coal mine and factory within two years. The project is expected to turn the reservation's sizable coal reserves into 50,000 barrels a day of diesel and other fuels.

Another company from Australia, Ambre Energy recently announced its intentions to build a separate $375 million coal plant in southeastern Montana to produce high-efficiency coal and synthetic crude oil.

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