By Wallace McMullen and Melissa Blakley
Sierrans have been very active in opposing new coal burning power plants in Missouri during the last few months.
Springfield Area
City Utilities of Springfield proposed building a 300 MW plant next to the Southwest Power Station, which also is a coal burning plant. Springfield member Stan Van Velsor describes the reasons why they oppose the new plant:
- The emissions from coal burning plants have serious public health and environmental consequences; which are borne by the citizens and not by the utility.
- The new plant would cost approximately $578 million resulting in a 16% rate increase for members of the community.
- Our ground water supplies will be at risk due to the large amount of water required for coal technology; and
- There are viable [clean] alternatives to burning coal, like renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.
“Our goal is to increase public awareness of the serious consequences associated with burning coal so the public will be well informed when the request to fund the plant goes up for a public vote. We have developed a power point presentation that we have presented to 10 local organizations. We have developed an informational brochure that will be passed out at local events, presentations, and in a direct mail campaign.”
Area Sierrans have helped organize Southwest Citizens for Clean Energy. The group has leafleted some of the PR events held by City Utilities. They also have arranged an Energy Forum, sponsored by the local chapter of the League of Women Voters, to facilitate a public discussion on this issue, which will be held in April. Panel members will included a local pediatrician, the Executive Director of the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, a Sierra Club representative, and a representative from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources to address renewable energy opportunities. Additionally, they are planning a second public forum and will present opposition to the plant when City Utilities brings the proposal to the Springfield City Council for approval.
If you want to help Southwest Citizens for Clean Energy, or would like to know more, contact Stan Van Velsor at 417- 889-8017.
Kansas City Area
Great Plains Power plans to build two new 850MW coal-burning power plants near Weston, Missouri. One is to be built next to the current Iatan, Missouri, plant (construction scheduled for 2004) and the other is planned just across the Missouri river in Atchison County, Kansas (construction scheduled for 2005). The three plants in total will produce more than 4 times the pollution (and electricity) of the existing Iatan plant. The entire metro area will be affected by the pollution from these projects with heavier impacts for those within 30 miles of 5 coal-burning power plants. The new plants will be speculative ventures that will sell electricity not to the local area, but to the highest bidder across to country. They expect to sell mostly to the Southwest Power Pool.
As Kansas City is expected to soon become an ozone non-attainment area, the additional pollution from these coal burning units may have an impact on everyone living in the metro area.
Susan Brown of Dearborn in Platte County learned about GPE’s plans to build very near her home when she received a postcard from the Sierra Club. Understanding the impact to her family and her community, she began calling local area newspapers and asked why they weren’t reporting on the story. The Platte County Landmark ran front page stories on the power plants for five weeks straight after talking to her.
That prompted other coverage as well. There have been articles in The Platte County Citizen, Sun News Northland, Atchison Daily Globe, and the St. Joe New Press. Channel 2 TV in St. Joe ran three interviews with Susan and Melissa Blakely. The Weston Chronicle also began to report on the issue. Even the Kansas City Star has run a couple of articles.
Susan also contacted Concerned Citizens of Platte County, a grass-roots organization had which originally organized to stop a proposed Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) or “mega-hog factory” proposed in Platte County. The Concerned Citizens group promptly appointed Susan to be their Power Plant Committee Chair.
In 2002, (when we were not paying attention), the Platte County Commission had agreed to finance the Weston Bend power plant with up to $1.3 billion of bonds in exchange for payments to the Platte School District once the plant is operating. The Weston School Board (West Platte School District) still supports the project it in spite of the fact that all of their schools are located within 10 miles of what will be a major source of pollution.
Toxic Landfill – Information Session
Huge amounts of coal will be burned if these projects go through, on the order of 8 million tons. One might think of endless trainloads of coal coming to the site. The ash from all the coal combustion is stored in landfills. Coal combustion waste (CCW) is highly toxic, containing concentrated levels of arsenic, mercury, cadmium, chromium, lead, selenium, sulfates, boron, and other contaminants. The landfill has the potential to contaminate the groundwater of nearby communities.
On January 8th. the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) held a landfill public awareness session in Weston, MO. Sierrans and community activists spread the word, and 150-200 residents turned out for the meeting. Our members asked local residents to sign on to letters requesting public hearings on the air, water and landfill permits and an Environmental Impact Statement for these projects. Platte County Commissioner Wegner was present at the meeting and the crowd took him to task for supporting the power plants.
Concerned Citizens had prepared the following questions. Not all questions were answered but they did provide food for thought for those in attendance.
1. Can the CCW landfill contaminate our drinking water?
2. Are Missouri’s rules concerning these landfills adequate to control and protect public health and environmental risk?
3. Will these contaminants enter the environment through dust, by leaching into the groundwater or from discharges into surface waters?
4. Will there be any discharges permitted?
5. What contaminants in the discharge are regulated?
6. Are there unregulated hazardous pollutants in the expected discharges?
7. Will the disposal site be lined?
8. Will it have ground water monitoring?
Also, the proposed landfill will sit in the Missouri river flood plain. Residents wanted to know what will happen to the toxic waste the next time the river floods.
We have learned that coal combustion waste is exempt from EPA’s hazardous waste disposal requirements and all regulation is delegated to the states. Missouri’s CCW landfill regulations are more stringent than those in Kansas and do require the landfill be lined and have groundwater monitoring.
Missouri Sierra Club members and Concerned Citizens of Platte County, Inc. are teaming up with Leavenworth Citizens for the Quality of Life across the river. Jointly they held two public meetings in January, one in Platte County, MO, and one in Leavenworth, KS. Each meeting included an illustrated presentation on the proposed power plants and the environmental, public health, and economic costs of coal-fired electric generation along with explorations of some better energy options, such as efficiency, conservation, and renewable energy.
On the same day the EPA was holding national hearings on a mercury control standard, the coalition held a demonstration at the Kansas City Power & Light (KCP&L) headquarters. Both Great Plains Power and KCP&L are subsidiaries of the same holding company, Great Plains Energy. And the CEO of Great Plains is also the CEO of KCP&L.
If you would like to learn more or be involved in some small or large way contact Melissa Blakley, 816-741-8200, mblakley@earthlink.net
Helpful Action: Please write letters to request full public hearings and an Environmental Impact Statement with a Health Assessment to:
Air Pollution Control Permit: Leanne Tippett, Director - Air Pollution Control Program, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, P.O. Box 176, Jefferson City, MO 65102
Water Pollution Control Permits: Douglas R. Berka, Regulatory Project Manager, Dept of the Army, KC District, Corps of Engineers, 700 Federal Building, Kansas City MO 64106-2896 [this applies to Great Plains Power projects only – Springfield proposal isn’t on a river]