Rimini, Montana site of fuel cell test

Agencies want to find out how hydrogen powered fuel cell would work in high elevations, cold

The Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy want to test an experimental "solid oxide fuel cell" in Rimini, just a few hundred feet away from homes.

The proposed test was announced at a regularly scheduled meeting between the EPA and Rimini residents last week, and came as a complete surprise to most people there. The EPA is heading up a project to clean up dozens of abandoned mines in and around Rimini.

Cathy Eakin said she went to the meeting to learn about potential impacts from using dynamite as part of the reclamation work on the nearby Susie Mine.

Instead, she heard how someone had decided Rimini was a "remote" area where the DOE and EPA could find out how well a hydrogen powered fuel cell would work at high elevations and cold temperatures.

Eakin said she feels like the two federal agencies are using Rimini residents as guinea pigs and she wants to put the brakes on the experiment until they learn more about it. The fuel cell, which is about the size of a refrigerator, and about 2,000 gallons of methanol would be in a building about 500 yards from her house.

By EVE BYRON – IR Staff Writer

Full Story: http://helenair.com/articles/2005/08/06/helena_top/a07080605_01.txt