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a ...04 C"j ....<1 (.-~ c; To meet the project's critical objective of competitive product transport in the pipeline system, liquid carbon dioxide (C02) is proposed as a transport medium. The naturally occurring chemical compound has a greater carrying capacity than water in a conventional slurry pipeline, allowing more sources and markets to be served. The liquid CO, will also protect the quality of the coal (or the product made from the coal) during transport. The potential liquid CO2 transport of other commodities such as soda ash, grain, and clay products is proposed to make optimal use of the system, but laboratory and pilot plant testing will be needed. Through a Cooperative Agreement, the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation and Aquatrain, Inc. (a company representing private industry) are jointly investigating the project's concept. The foremost purpose for government participation in AQUATRAIN is to develop an alternative for reducing salinity in the Colorado River at the lowest cost and, where possible, for beneficially using the water. The foremost interest of Aquatrain, Inc., is to attain an economically competitive, long-tenl method of transporting coal from coal- rich regions of Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah to domestic markets in the southwest U.S. and possibly export markets. Additional benefits could result from achieving these objectives. AQUATRAIN would minimize the cost of energy produced from new coal-fired electric utility powerplants by making low- cost, high-quality coal and/or coal products readily available and by beneficially using saline water rather than freshwater to cool powerplants. AQUATRAIN would also help reduce the amount of oil and gas currently being burned in powerplants, conserving it for other, more beneficial uses. For example, the AQUATRAIN Project, at 30 million tons of coal annually, could replace the equivalent of about 120 million barrels of petroleum-based fuels now being burned to produce 60 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. Freeing up that petroleum resource through use of coal in coal-fired powerplants would be cheaper than building new synthetic oil plants, resulting in further savings to utilities, consumers, and the Nation. A portion of the savings in commodity transport revenues would be used to support AQUATRAIN's transportation of saline water. Private industry would bear project construction costs and, if necessary for project financial integrity, the Federal government's salinity control program would pay a negotiated share of operation and maintenance costs. The cost of the entire pipeline system is estimated at $2-3 billion (constant 1982 dollars). 2