Below is the extremely in-depth analysis of the coal plant fights in the DSM Register. There is a lot of other good information on the website. We also won a great victory in Waterloo last night with the election of Quentin Hart to the City Council in the 4th Ward over incumbent John Kincaid. Quentin has already voted against the plant once (as chair of the Planning, Programming and Zoning Commission) and is openly opposed to its construction. Mark http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071107/NEWS/711070383/1001/NEWS New plants put King Coal in the cross hairs in Iowa How should the state get its energy and fight global warming? By PERRY BEEMAN REGISTER STAFF WRITER November 7, 2007 13 Comments Proposed coal-fired power plants near Waterloo and in Marshalltown are keeping the debate over global warming burning in Iowa. Environmentalists, NASA's chief climate scientist, industry experts and citizens are lining up to testify about the coal-burning plants, which could affect Iowans' lungs, power bills, fish-eating habits and ability to find jobs. The debate over whether to build the two Iowa plants is part of a national argument as utilities and a new breed of so-called "merchant generators" have plans for 150 new coal-fired plants. States as different as Kansas, California, Idaho and Florida have blocked new coal-fired plants. Even Texas forced its biggest utility to pare down a proposal for 11 new coal plants to three. Climate scientists have long fingered coal, with its carbon dioxide emissions, as a prime source of global warming. For that reason they oppose Madison, Wis.-based Alliant Energy's proposed 630-megawatt plant in Marshalltown and East Brunswick, N.J.-based LS Power's plans to build a 750-megawatt plant on land Waterloo wants to annex. Opponents face formidable odds. State officials say they have no plans to block the new plants despite scientists' warnings. It's a Statehouse policy question that promises to burn hotter next year as the Iowa Utilities Board and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources debate whether to approve the plants. Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, a Council Bluffs Democrat, said he doubts that Iowa lawmakers will ban new coal-burning plants when the Legislature convenes in 2008. But Gronstal added many lawmakers want to consider requiring utilities to mix in more renewable energy as they continue to build coal plants. The state now gets about 6 percent of its power from renewable sources, mostly wind. "The companies proposing those plants should be prepared to talk about renewable energy and efficiency or they should be prepared to meet with some resistance," Gronstal said. Flat-screen televisions, biofuel plants feed need About 78 percent of the electricity generated in Iowa comes from coal. Ten percent comes from the state's only nuclear power plant in Palo near Cedar Rapids, about 6 percent from natural gas, and 6 percent comes from wind, hydroelectric and other renewable sources, the U.S. Department of Energy reports. Iowa imports the vast majority of the fuel for electricity production. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources figures that Iowa imports 97 percent of the fuel needed to produce energy. Put a different way, 56 cents of every dollar spent on energy leaves the state. Any swing away from relying on coal has been stymied by a fourfold increase in the price of cleaner-burning natural gas, the wavering nature of wind power and the still-boiling debate over nuclear-plant waste. A new MidAmerican Energy generator in an existing complex in Council Bluffs opened earlier this year was Iowa's first new generator built since 1983. But utilities say they need more generating capacity to keep up with a 1 percent to 2 percent annual jump in electricity use in Iowa that is fueled by forces ranging from flat screen TVs, which use five times more power than older sets, to ethanol plants. Spokesman Ryan Stensland of Alliant Energy, parent of Interstate Power and Light Co., which proposed the $1 billion Marshalltown plant, said biofuels plants now under construction or planned would by themselves consume the equivalent of Interstate's 350-megawatt share of the power from the new plant. Are changes in coal energy green enough? Utilities leaders say that the new coal plants, with their improved methods of scrubbing and capturing pollutants, are gentler on the environment. MidAmerican Energy President Bill Fehrman said the new unit in Council Bluffs burns hotter and under more pressure, which cuts harmful sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions. The utility says the new plant's carbon dioxide emissions are 10 percent to 15 percent lower than the levels at its old plants. Alliant's Stensland points out that new plants burn cleaner, with less emissions. "This will be the cleanest, most efficient coal facility ever constructed in the state of Iowa," Stensland said of the proposed Marshalltown plant. The facility's boiler would be designed to later take advantage of developing technologies that will capture carbon dioxide before it gets into the atmosphere. It also will be able to burn biomass such as grasses or cornstalks along with coal. A top global-warming authority said that's not enough. The University of Iowa graduate who is NASA's chief climate scientist, James Hansen, said, "Fifteen percent reductions are not what is needed. Our only practical chance to stabilize climate is to cut off coal emissions over the next few decades. As this becomes realized, it will become obvious that the present coal plants will need to be 'bulldozed' - they are a pretty unsmart investment at present." Hansen, who submitted testimony to the Iowa Utilities Board in the Marshalltown case on Oct. 22, said all coal plants should be banned until they find a way to sequester the carbon dioxide they emit, possibly by pumping it underground. In that document, Hansen recalled seeing long train loads of coal near his hometown of Denison recently. "If we cannot stop the building of more coal-fired power plants, those coal trains will be death trains — no less gruesome than if they were boxcars headed to crematoria, loaded with uncountable, irreplaceable species," he wrote. The Marshalltown plant alone will doom several of the world's species by promoting climate change and its nature-altering forces, Hansen estimated. In his eyes, the defeat of coal plants not designed to capture their carbon emissions could be a huge boon. "If the public begins to stand up in a few places and successfully oppose the construction of power plants that burn coal without capturing the CO, this may begin to have a snowball effect, helping utilities and politicians to realize that the public prefers a different path, one that respects all life on the planet," Hansen wrote. Critics say that utilities race to beat regulators Congress has yet to decide how to regulate or whether to cap carbon dioxide emissions that can harm lungs, worsen asthma, lace fish tissue with mercury, shorten people's lives and contribute to climate change. Critics such as Carrie La Seur of the nonprofit Plains Justice accuse the utilities of rushing to build plants — and secure decades-long coal-buying contracts - before the federal government acts. Utility representatives, including Washington, D.C.-based lobbyist and lawyer Jeff Holmstead, say no firm is going to gamble $1 billion on a plant in an effort to navigate the still-uncertain politics of the issue. Plains Justice is preparing legal maneuvers to block new plants and will be aided by Community Energy Solutions, Iowa Environmental Council, Iowa Farmers Union, Iowa Renewable Energy Association and the Iowa Chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility. Ed Woolsey of the Iowa Renewable Energy Association agreed with Hansen that Iowa needs to ban plants with no carbon-capturing system, technology that hasn't been developed yet. "While it may be difficult to immediately shut down current operating coal-fired power plants, there should be an immediate moratorium on new coal units that do not incorporate the yet-unproven 100 percent carbon capture and storage," Woolsey said. "In addition to fouling the air, water, soil and increasing associated deadly health impacts, any new coal plants will capture valuable transmission capacity, competing directly with our future sustainable energy initiatives." Growing Iowa demand focuses debate in state Iowa will use 30 percent to 40 percent more electricity two decades from now, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Utility managers say they can't meet growing demand in a reliable and cost-efficient way without burning coal. One reason for that is natural gas prices, which have soared over the past decade from $2 per thousand cubic feet to $8 per thousand cubic feet. There are plenty of renewable energy advocates who disagree with the industry's reliance on coal, however, and some states do, too. California, which runs mainly on natural gas and wind, has moved to ban the purchase of electricity generated with coal in other states. Florida and Kansas have each blocked at least one plant recently. Yet both Roya Stanley, who runs the new Iowa Office of Energy Independence, and Gov. Chet Culver said coal will be burned here for the foreseeable future. Critics say that Iowa doesn't need the pollution and that wind farms and other renewable energy projects create more jobs. But Culver and legislative leaders cite economic development as an imperative. "The governor understands reliable and affordable energy must be available to the citizens of Iowa," said Culver spokesman Brad Anderson. "This was a major consideration, for example, when Google announced its plans to open a $600 million server farm in Council Bluffs. The governor is going to continue to do everything in his power to increase use of renewable energy, knowing we are going to be living with coal-fired power plants to some extent in the foreseeable future to produce base-load electricity." Culver has set a goal of producing enough wind energy by 2015 to power 500,000 homes and cut carbon emissions by more than 7 billion tons per year. Some state lawmakers are lining up to propose new energy-efficiency and renewable energy requirements. For example, Sen. Jack Hatch, D-Des Moines, will ask lawmakers next year to require a 20 percent increase in renewable energy use. Sen. Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, seeks to create 5,000 green-energy jobs by requiring all electric utilities in Iowa to obtain 14 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2014. Iowa Consumer Advocate John Perkins has opposed the Marshalltown plant as unnecessary. Perkins, however, won't take a stand on Waterloo's "merchant" plant, so named because it will be owned by an independent producer and won't be subject to Iowa rate case hearings, before the utilities board. The board, however, will have to decide whether to approve the plant's construction. Neighbors fight for land and lungs Neighbors of the proposed coal plant sites are fighting the developments, arguing that the emissions and dust will hurt them and their quality of life. In the unincorporated village of Dewar near the proposed LS Power plant outside Waterloo, yard signs condemn the plant proposal. "We're exporting the electricity, importing the coal, exporting the money and keeping the pollution," said resident Don Shatzer, one of the neighbors leading the opposition. "They are building it right on top of Dewar, and they are not giving them any say," Shatzer said. "That's just an injustice. That community has been there 100 years. "What do we want to leave the kids in 50 or 60 years?" Shatzer said. "It will be arsenic and mercury and lead for 50 years." Others see the plants as a boon. Local government and chamber of commerce officials have backed the plants because they would provide dozens of jobs with good wages, significant tax payments, and the power needed for new developments that in turn will pay the taxes needed to pay for local services. The Marshalltown plant proposed next to Alliant's Sutherland Generating Station would hire 1,000 construction workers before employing the equivalent of 85 full-time workers. With an average salary of $90,000, including benefits, the Alliant plant's payroll would be $7.7 million. LS Power's $1.3 billion Elk Run Energy Station would hire 1,200 construction workers and the equivalent of 100 permanent full-time workers with an annual payroll of about $7 million. In addition, the Marshalltown plant expects to pay more than $2.9 million in taxes; Waterloo's, $3.2 million. But Clear the Air, a coalition of organizations fighting global warming, in 2004 reported U.S. Environmental Protection Agency consultants' data that estimated 323 Iowans die each year from exposure to fine particle pollution from power plants. The plants also cause 40,988 lost work days, 333 hospitalizations and 7,322 asthma attacks every year, 412 of which are so severe they require emergency room visits, the group reports. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that power plant pollution leads to 2,826 lung cancer deaths and 38,200 heart attacks in the United States each year, the clean air group reported. At the same time, someone has to keep the lights on. Iowans demand cheap power, and utility leaders say coal is the cheapest, most reliable answer for the bulk of new capacity. Expert chides Iowans for wasting power Environmentalists and utility representatives agree on one thing: The best way to save money on meeting power needs is for Iowans to conserve. Americans use twice as much electricity as Europeans do, said Kamyar Enshayan of the University of Northern Iowa's Center for Energy & Environmental Education. Americans need to cut their power use rather than charge up a system that zaps residents with high power bills, he said. "Imagine a cold winter day, it's 20 below zero, but you have all the windows open in your house and you go to the furnace dealer and say, 'My furnace can't keep up. I need three or four furnaces,' " Enshayan said. "We are completely wasteful with energy. We are out here feeding this bad habit. Before we talk about the source of electricity, we need to talk about significant demand reduction." "We need to account for global climate change," Enshayan said. "We know that coal is the biggest offender." Reporter Perry Beeman can be reached at (515) 284-8538 or [log in to unmask] Mark Kresowik Midwest Clean Energy Campaign Sierra Club [log in to unmask] 319-621-7393 (cell) 515-276-4690 (office) 515-251-4811 (fax) 3839 Merle Hay Road Suite 280 Des Moines, IA 50310 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask] Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp Sign up to receive Sierra Club Insider, the flagship e-newsletter. Sent out twice a month, it features the Club's latest news and activities. Subscribe and view recent editions at http://www.sierraclub.org/insider/