842 MINERALS YEARBOOK, 1967 
 
Initially, the output was to be zirconium tubing for nuclear power plants;
however, the plant also was to be equipped to fabricate titanium. 
 
MINERAL FUELS 
 
 Carbon Dioxide.—Gas-Ice Corp. recovered carbon dioxide from mineral
waters in Klickitat County and converted the gas to dry ice. The firm also
maintained a plant at Finley, Benton County, where carbon dioxide was recovered
from an ammonia-plant waste product. 
 
 Coal.—Coal output, all from four coal mines in the Puget Sound region
west of the Cascade Range, was 58,873 tons—an increase of 236 tons
over the 1966 total. Coal from underground mining operations in King and
Thurston Counties was fed to mechanical cleaning equipment; 16 percent of
the material washed was refuse. A strip-mining firm in Lewis County marketed
coal directly from the mine without processing. The unit value of coal sold
in the open market was $8.78 per ton. 
 Pacific Power & Light Co. and Washington Water Power Co. announced a
joint venture for constructing a 1,400-megawatt coal.fired steam-generating
plant near Centralia. The $176 million project involves installing the first
700-megawatt facility at a coalfield northeast of Centralia by 1971 and the
second 700-megawatt unit by 
1972. Surface mining operations and the power-generating units were to be
set up on the 16,000-acre Tono coalfield between Bucoda in Thurston County
and Mendota in Lewis County. 
 Construction began on a 50-ton-per-day coal deashing plant at Tacoma, by
Pittsburgh. and Midway Coal Co. Scheduled for completion in 1969, the plant
was designed to provide engineering data for design and construction of commercial
units, and to produce sufficient deashed coal to permit market testing. 
 
 Peat.—Production of peat totaled 40,869 tons of which 16,063 tons
was unprepared, 18,056 tons was shredded, and 6,750 tons was shredded and
kiln dried 
before marketing. The average unit value of peat was $4.41 per ton. Humus
(21,769 tons), peat moss (3,381 tons), and reedsedge (15,719 tons) peat were
produced, and most was sold in bulk. Snohomish County led in peat production,
followed by King, Spokane, Thurston, Kitsap, and Pierce Counties. 
 
 Petroleum and Natural Gas.—Six exploratory wells, all dry holes were
drilled for oil and gas. Two offshore tests were made. One, drilled to a
depth of 10,368 feet by Pan American Petroleum Corp., was 20 miles offshore
from the mouth of the Hoh River. Another, drilled by Shell Oil Co. to a depth
of 13,179 feet, was 15 miles offshore opposite the mouth of Willapa Harbor.
Four wells were drilled onshore in exploring for oil and gas in King and
Snohomish Counties. 
 
Table 9.—Oil and gas well drilling 
 
 ExpiCounty —  Oil 
oratory wells 
 
~—~— 
 
Gas Dry 
Total 
footage 
King 3 16,402 
Snohomish 1 175 
 
 
 At Jackson Prairie, Lewis County, Washington Water Power Co., Washington
Natural Gas Co., and El Paso Natural Gas Co. continued development on a natural
gas storage reservoir with ultimate storage capacity of 25 billion cubic
feet. 
 Litigation involving an antitrust issue began on the El Paso Natural Gas
Co. 1,500-mile natural gas pipeline, which begins at Sumas and ends at Ignacio,
Cob. Gas i's gathered and delivered through many branch lines to the pipeline
for distribution in the State, and to Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado
communities. 
 Atlantic Richfield Co. announced plans to construct a crude-oil refinery
near Marysville, Snohomish County, with capacity of 100,000 barrels per day.
Preservationist groups opposed construction of the oil refinery and attempted
to block the development through the Snohomish County Planning Commission.