With its sagebrush and rolling hills, parts of the Columbia Basin look vaguely like west Texas - and now the image is becoming complete as the region develops its own burgeoning energy industry. The Port of Walla Walla has entered into talks with a Gig Harbor company that wants to build a $2 billion plant to convert coal into a tween 600 and 700 megawatts of electricity - enough to power more than 140,000 homes.

 The port district is negotiating with Wallula Resource Recovery LLC for an option to purchase up to 750 acres of port land about 15 miles east of Pasco. Proponents say they plan to file for state permits by the end of the year, assuming they're able to line up long-term commitments to sell the electricity. A subsidiary of Edison International has invested in the project and is expected to operate the plant. If all goes to plan, the plant would come online in 2013.

Backers say the project is environmentally friendly because the plant would capture carbon dioxide given off during the conversion process, liquefy it, and then pump it 1.3 miles down into the layers of volcanic basalt that underlie the Columbia Basin. In the basalt chambers, the CO2 will react with the rock to create calcium carbonate, thus removing the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere.

Walla Walla County is becoming an alternative energy hub. In May, Gen-X Energy Group opened the door on a biodiesel plant on port district land near the town of Burbank, on U.S. Highway 12 west of Walla Walla. The company plans to convert animal fat and plant oils into 5 million gallons of fuel a year, which would be blended with petroleum-based diesel to create a fuel that reduces pollution while maintaining performance.

The port district also is in talks with developers who have proposed putting a $150 million ethanol plant adjacent to the Wallula Resource plant, where they plan to convert corn or other fibers into fuel. And Walla Walla and the surrounding counties already are home to five wind farms, including FPL Energy's Stateline project, which is one of the largest in the world. It features a total of 454 turbines spinning atop 150-foot towers on a ridge that straddles the Oregon-Washington border and generates 300 megawatts of electricity.

Wide-open spaces are what's attracting these alternative energy projects, says Paul Gerola, the Port of Walla Walla's economic director. "These guys are not going to get land in Puget Sound - it's not going to happen," he says. "Location is an issue and we've got lots of property."