Hundreds of Lincoln County residents, county and city officials and guests from surrounding counties gathered at the Lincoln County Training and Events Center to hear from developers of specific projects happening in the county.
At a three and a half hour meeting on Thursday, Oct. 6, attendees received a boxed supper during a meet and greet and then listened to presentations given by executives of five companies: Williams Resources; RAIN FIRE/Canyon Road Holdings; TriSight, LLC; TerraPower/Natrium Reactor Demonstration Project; and Bechtel — Engineering, Construction & Project Management.
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Hundreds of Lincoln County residents, county and city officials and guests from surrounding counties gathered at the Lincoln County Training and Events Center to hear from developers of specific projects happening in the county.
At a three and a half hour meeting on Thursday, Oct. 6, attendees received a boxed supper during a meet and greet and then listened to presentations given by executives of five companies: Williams Resources; RAIN FIRE/Canyon Road Holdings; TriSight, LLC; TerraPower/Natrium Reactor Demonstration Project; and Bechtel — Engineering, Construction & Project Management.
Kemmerer Mayor Bill Thek opened the formal meeting, thanked everyone for coming and explained that each speaker would get 10 minutes to present and Sharon Fain with Pacific Power Corporation would be the timer. He then introduced Rita Meyer, Wyoming Energy Futures, who would in turn introduce the speakers.
Meyers thanked all of the people who helped to make the meeting a success and addressed the crowd, “I want to let you know the purpose of this meeting. I would bet there are a lot of people in Lincoln County who are unaware of all of the projects that are taking place and many have lots of questions. We decided to provide this opportunity for that to happen. Our first speaker is Ty Peck with Williams Resources, who does a lot of investments for the company.”
Peck said the Williams Companies are a 100-year-old company that also operates under the name of Williams Northwest Pipeline located in Kemmerer; which operates primarily in the pipeline/natural gas business industry. Their focus is to provide reliable low cost and environmentally-friendly energy to make clean energy happen.
“Our company provides 1/3 of U.S. energy with our products; with pipelines being our main focus. We partner with solar, wind, and nuclear companies,” Peck said. “In Opal and Parachute Willow Creek we partner with the University of Wyoming to determine availability and suitable resources. Our new energy venture is with hydrogen and growing existing customer relations by providing hydrogen access. Wyoming can be THE exporter of hydrogen and make a big impact.”
David Jackson, with RAIN FIRE/Canyon Road Holdings told the audience his company came to the Kemmerer/Diamondville area because they saw a need and the community was open and friendly. They wish to become part of the community; their office is in the old town hall in Kemmerer and they have a facility at the airport.
RAIN FIRE specializes in aerial and interface firefighting globally with an office in Afton. The company is comprised of industry veterans experienced in aerial and interface firefighting, with a big fleet, and the ability to deploy services faster and farther than any other firefighting organizations.
“Our time is made up of 90% planning and training and 10% the mission,” Jackson said. “We work with other projects and developers to provide services for them. We hope to have 450 employees in 4 years and a big percentage of them will be veterans.”
TriSight LLC President and Chief Strategy Officer Bradley Barham said his company is committed to putting a new face on coal. Barham said they promote zero carbon coal by utilizing the hidden secret resources in coal.
“We have discovered a process to unlock the key to the pantry of resources in coal,” Barham said. “The Kemmerer coal is premium coal and a treasure chest. Inside coal are substances used for skin care, for fire retardant, graphite, for agricultural fertilizer, folic acid and more. Mother Nature has given us a gift in coal and we plan to utilize it in products that are carbon free and environmentally friendly.”
Representing TerraPower and the Natrium Reactor Demonstration Project were Chris Levesque, President/CEO TerraPower; Tara Neider, Natrium Project Director; and Mark Romano, Project Manager/Bechtel Corporation.
“We have been working on getting permits, biological surveys, safety features, and sodium testing,” Neider said. “The Natrium plant will be much smaller than most conventional nuclear plants and is safer as we will be using molten salt tanks to store the reactor’s heat. The plant both enhances safety and can reduce costs. I will stand behind that our reactor is safe.”
Neider turned the time over to Romano who has worked for Bechtel for 32 years and with nuclear power since the 1960s. Bechtel will celebrate its 125th year of being in business in 2023.
“We have completed the subservice work and drilling for testing the soil,” Bechtel said. “So, what’s coming next? We will be starting next year, sometime in late April or June, on building the testing and fill facility and a support facility. We hope to hire Wyoming workers; subcontractors, general electricians, HVAC, excavation and mechanical.”