GREEN RIVER - Wyoming's Industrial Siting Council is set to meet later this summer to consider the Williams Co.'s proposed $233 million project to expand its natural gas processing plant near Wamsutter.

It's a pretty fast permitting process, state officials told Sweetwater County commissioners Tuesday.

So local officials might want to start identifying the project impact issues the county wants the council to address during the state's upcoming permit hearing, Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality administrators said.

"The project is getting ready to happen soon … We need to get the communications going with your planning staff and a dialogue going about those potential issues as part of this permitting process," said Industrial Siting Division program principal Tom Schroeder.

The siting council involvement is spurred by the $233 million price tag for the addition of a fourth gas separation processing train at the plant, Schroeder said.

Created nearly three decades ago by state lawmakers, the Industrial Siting Council reviews the socioeconomic and environmental impacts of industrial facilities before issuing permits for construction.

Council permits are required for any construction project in Wyoming with a final cost of $170 million or more.

Williams' Echo Springs plant is part of the company's approximately 1,700-mile long Wamsutter natural gas delivery system, which includes the massive Williams gas processing plant at Opal.

The system gathers about 70 percent of the natural gas produced in the Washakie Basin and connects with other gas transmission systems to transport natural gas to end markets farther down the pipeline. The Echo Springs plant is located about eight miles southeast of Wamsutter on the Sweetwater/Carbon border in Carbon County.

The siting application process occurs "very expediently … It could be as quick as 45 days, and that's really fast-track for (area) towns that may meet only once or twice a month," Schroeder told commissioners.

"Sometimes that kind of leaves (local communities) in a lurch," he said. "We want to begin a dialogue now … so it doesn't come as a shock later. Our solution is to resolve those impacts that may result … before the application is submitted."

Commission Chairman Wally Johnson said the county already has some concerns about the project, including the company's planned use of a county road to access the site.

"But I'm very supportive of the project … I feel pretty strongly about Wyoming's ability to capitalize on the resources that we have here," Johnson said.

Doubling capacity

Williams officials said the Echo Springs gas processing plant expansion will add about 350 million cubic feet per day of processing capacity and 36,000 barrels per day of natural gas liquids capacity, which will roughly double the plant's volumes.

Alan Armstrong, president of Williams' midstream business, said in a press release that once the expansion is complete in late 2010, the plant will have a processing capacity of 740 million cubic feet of gas per day and 60,000 barrels of liquids per day.

Armstrong said the three existing processing trains at Echo Springs are already running at their combined capacity. He said producers in the Wamsutter area have indicated they are "expecting significant volume growth" in the future.

Schroeder told commissioners with the exception of a 10-acre temporary construction laydown area, the project will be constructed within the gas plant's existing 34 acres of fenced land. The project could begin as early as spring 2009.

He said the company estimates a maximum work force of about 135 will be needed for the project. There are currently 49 employees working at the Echo Springs plant. Seven permanent positions will be added once the project is complete.

Schroeder said the siting council expects to receive the company's completed application in August, and permitting could occur by the end of October. He said the council will consider the format as a "contested case," which means the rules of evidentiary procedures will be followed during the formal hearing.

He said the council typically takes a contested-case approach to all energy projects.

Schroeder noted the siting council typically handles about one application per year. Over the past six months, however, the council has held hearings for five projects. "Business is booming for us," he said.

Southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at 307-875-5359 or at gearino@tribcsp.com.