Please see the note on this article for an update about this story.
In September 2013 MDN told you about an innovative new $300 million gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant being built in Ashtabula, OH that will convert Marcellus and Utica Shale gas into chemicals and diesel fuel (see Utica Shale Gas-to-Liquids Plant Planned for Ashtabula, OH and More Details on Ashtabula, OH Gas-to-Liquids Plant). The plant was going to be built by a Houston-based company called Pinto Energy using technology created by UK-based Velocys. But last June Velocys announced they were buying out Pinto Energy lock, stock and barrel–including (and primarily for) the Ashtabula GTL plant (see UK-based Velocys Buys Ashtabula, OH GTL Plant). The last we heard about the Ashtabula GTL plant was that the Ohio EPA issued a draft Lake Erie discharge permit in March 2015 and scheduled hearings about the plant (see OH EPA Issues Draft Lake Erie Discharge Permit for Ashtabula GTL Plant). Here’s the bombshell: Velocys has just suspended its Chief Executive Officer, Roy Lipski, pending an investigation into “allegations of serious misconduct”…
