Energy Northwest next week will formally scuttle its plans to build a $1.5 billion coal/petcoke gasification power plant on 90 acres at the Port of Kalama.

However, the Richland-based public power group retains development rights to 20 acres of port property, and it still may build a conventional natural gas-fired power plant there, said Rochelle Olson, Energy Northwest spokeswoman.

The fate of the remaining 70 acres of the company had leased from the port is undetermined. The parcel is the port’s last remaining property with both rail and water access, and the port has a permit to expand the dock there, said Mindi Linquist, spokeswoman for the Port of Kalama.

The site could support one or multiple tenants, she said.

“We’re keeping our options open. We don’t want to paint ourselves in a corner,” Linquist said.

Energy Northwest submitted a letter this week to the state’s Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council terminating its permit application for the coal/petcoke plant, known as the Pacific Mountain Energy Center. The council is expected to approve the move Tuesday.

Energy Northwest began looking at other options last fall. At the time, the energy council ruled the coal/petcoke the proposal didn’t comply with a 2007 state law intended to reduce emissions that many scientists say contribute to global climate change.

The power giant had promised to use a newer, cleaner technology to gasify coal or petcoke, a by-product of petroleum refining. The plant, according to the sponsors, would have generated 680 megawatts of power and employed 100 workers.

Energy Northwest attempted to find a other ways to limit emissions, but the cost ballooned $1 billion to a total of $2.5 billion, Olson said.

“The current financial and economic conditions don’t support it,” Olson said.

Coming Friday in The Daily News:

Washington effectively banned new coal plants, so public utilities are looking at generating electricity with something the region has in abundance — wood.

Related articles:

Power supplier turns to natural gas  (Sept. 22, 2008)

State panel gives Port of Kalama petcoke plant planners an extension  (March 12, 2008)

Energy Northwest will pursue $1.5 billion plant in Kalama  (Nov. 29, 2007)