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Rally pushes for action against coal power plants
By RYAN BRINKS, TIMES-REPUBLICAN
POSTED: March 19, 2008
A busfull of coal power plant opponents, including approximately 15 to 20 Marshalltown and Tama residents, rallied in the Statehouse Tuesday for a stay on power plant permitting that would halt plans in Marshalltown and Waterloo.
Activist Bill Helgen of Marshalltown was one of three featured speakers during the rally aimed at spurring Gov. Chet Culver to take action on the issue.
Helgen argued that putting a new power plant, with emissions of toxic materials, just a few miles away from the Iowa Veterans Home did not make sense when that facility is in the midst of a $100 million effort to expand and improve the quality of life for veterans there.
“What good is it to give veterans a good care facility if you’re going to allow a power plant next door that contaminates their environment?” Helgen asked. “To me, this is on a scale much worse than [the Walter Reed Army Medical Center scandal].”
The residents and activists from the Sierra Club and Community Energy Solutions also touted “green energy” alternatives.
“We’re on the verge of a green energy revolution, and Iowa needs to get on board,” Helgen said.
A prospective neighbor to Waterloo’s proposed power plant also spoke about pollution and efforts by that plant’s owner, LS Power, to use eminent domain.
Sierra Club organizer Josh Jones noted efforts taken in nearby states to accelerate renewable energy development and tighten restrictions on pollution.
“While states like Minnesota, Illinois and Kansas are moving forward on clean energy, we are poised to take two major steps backward despite the rhetoric from our own governor, Chet Culver,” he said.
“Rather than locking ourselves into using a polluting technology for the next 50 years that harms people, damages our environment and makes global warming much worse, we owe it to our children to demand smarter, cleaner, healthier options for meeting Iowa’s energy needs,” he added.
After the speeches and a press conference, rally attendees also lobbied the governor’s office and their local legislators.
“If there were no other issues involved, just coming down and seeing the legislative process in and around the Capitol was an amazing experience,” Helgen said.
Helgen, his wife Irlanda and fellow local activist Jolene Jebsen also asked the Marshall County Board of Health at a recent meeting to consider voicing an opinion on the issue. A precedent was set when the board of health in Black Hawk County this year called for a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants.
The Marshall County board, however, has not yet agreed to place the topic on their agenda. They meet quarterly.
———
Contact Ryan Brinks at 641-753-6611 or rbrinks@timesrepublican.com
Activist Bill Helgen of Marshalltown was one of three featured speakers during the rally aimed at spurring Gov. Chet Culver to take action on the issue.
Helgen argued that putting a new power plant, with emissions of toxic materials, just a few miles away from the Iowa Veterans Home did not make sense when that facility is in the midst of a $100 million effort to expand and improve the quality of life for veterans there.
“What good is it to give veterans a good care facility if you’re going to allow a power plant next door that contaminates their environment?” Helgen asked. “To me, this is on a scale much worse than [the Walter Reed Army Medical Center scandal].”
The residents and activists from the Sierra Club and Community Energy Solutions also touted “green energy” alternatives.
“We’re on the verge of a green energy revolution, and Iowa needs to get on board,” Helgen said.
A prospective neighbor to Waterloo’s proposed power plant also spoke about pollution and efforts by that plant’s owner, LS Power, to use eminent domain.
Sierra Club organizer Josh Jones noted efforts taken in nearby states to accelerate renewable energy development and tighten restrictions on pollution.
“While states like Minnesota, Illinois and Kansas are moving forward on clean energy, we are poised to take two major steps backward despite the rhetoric from our own governor, Chet Culver,” he said.
“Rather than locking ourselves into using a polluting technology for the next 50 years that harms people, damages our environment and makes global warming much worse, we owe it to our children to demand smarter, cleaner, healthier options for meeting Iowa’s energy needs,” he added.
After the speeches and a press conference, rally attendees also lobbied the governor’s office and their local legislators.
“If there were no other issues involved, just coming down and seeing the legislative process in and around the Capitol was an amazing experience,” Helgen said.
Helgen, his wife Irlanda and fellow local activist Jolene Jebsen also asked the Marshall County Board of Health at a recent meeting to consider voicing an opinion on the issue. A precedent was set when the board of health in Black Hawk County this year called for a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants.
The Marshall County board, however, has not yet agreed to place the topic on their agenda. They meet quarterly.
———
Contact Ryan Brinks at 641-753-6611 or rbrinks@timesrepublican.com
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LiveSpacesMember Comments
View Comments: | 1-11 | Post a comment
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Socrates
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03-20-08 3:43 PM
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Thanks MT I'll check it out
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MTownResident
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03-20-08 3:31 PM
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BTW icecap [dot] us Has a great set of articles, data, and graphs on this subject for the inquisitive mind.
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MTownResident
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03-20-08 3:18 PM
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You and me both buddy.... I also get tired of politicians trying to putting their dirty hands in my wallet to give welfare to companies that are pushing the hysteria for their own profits i.e. General Electric.
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Socrates
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03-20-08 2:38 PM
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A new study that just came out shows that the oceans have actually cooled in the last few years. And the oceans play a bigger role in the earths temperature than the atmosphere does. This, by the way, was on evironmentally sensitive National Public Radio. Do you remember in the mid 70's when global cooling was the big hype? There are too many variables for the scientists to know exactly what is going on. Regardless I get tired of the hysterical hype and the use of baseless numbers and meaningless statements in order to push their "emotional" agenda.
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MTownResident
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03-20-08 2:21 PM
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They like the sounds of 500,000 cars. It just sounds big when it really is minuscule! Yet another way to skew stats in ones favor. There is no reason to argue with such people Socrates. They will never listen to reason. What is amazing is the complete utter lack of media coverage of the new studies coming out saying that "run-a-way" global warming or cooling is impossible but minor warming and cooling trends are just part of the cycle of the global weather system. Check out noted Physicist and Environmental Researcher Miklós Zágoni's new publications about the inaccuracies in the run-a-way global warming equations.
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Socrates
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03-20-08 10:29 AM
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Assume you are right (doubtful) and a new coal plant will increase the emissions equal to 500,000 cars. There are 600,000,000 cars in the world. So you are saying it will increase emissions equal to .0008% of vehicle emissions. 16,000,000 cars are added annually. Wouldn't that be a bigger issue than this comparatively miniscule amount?
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10waman
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03-19-08 6:14 PM
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There is no 'safe' limit!!! The technologies are available, and with more interest and research the price goes down and the quality goes up. If we continue using, building and promoting toxic polluters, like coal fired power plants, and then expect a different outcome, I think that has been defined as insanity!!! M'town already has a black eye in all of Iowa about the condition of our streets..now you want to build a toxic plant too???!!!! We need to change the way we look at energy production and quit taking the easy road all the time. Be brave and couragious, a little investment in the future and not on the past, will go a long way in this new century.
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LilBeaver
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03-19-08 5:20 PM
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These opponents would rather saddle us with continuing to use the older outdated coal fire plants rather than the newer technology incorporated in these new plants which reduce the pollution factor.
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tallcornboy
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03-19-08 12:00 PM
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ok, so it won't let me put a website in, so I'll try this. The part marked by asterisks should read "p l a i n s j u s t i c e . o r g " with no double-quotes or spaces in it. Hopefully that will satisfy the "no useful information allowed" filter.
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tallcornboy
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03-19-08 11:59 AM
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"These people" aren't reporting numbers because the newspapers won't print them -- they take up too much space. Plus newspapers think people are too dumb to understand numbers. Here are some comparisons to put this into perspective. Right now, Waterloo has the same air quality as Milwaukee w/o any plant. Iowa City has worse air quality than Milwaukee. Each of the two proposed power plants has the emissions equal to putting 500,000 more cars on the road. Each is asking to annually emit 400lbs of Mercury. In front of the IUB, there were no emotional arguments, only cold hard numbers from the opponents. The Times Republican sat through 5 days of testimony, and chose to print none of it. But it's all public, so you can download and read it yourself: both sides of the argument as submitted. *******plainsjustice****/filings-for-marshalltown-iowa-coal-plant-proposal/ And be sure to thank the TR staff for their help.
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Socrates
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03-19-08 11:25 AM
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Why is it that when you hear about these people protesting the new power plant, you never hear any numbers or facts to back up their claims? How much pollution? Will the output from the plant be within acceptable government air quality standards or not? How does it compare to other sources of pollution, like rush hour in Chicago? Other high tech coal plants have been built in recent years, what effect if any are they having, and what is their pollution output? These people are making a purely emotional response to something they know little about. If they want to make an arguement against the facility, then get some facts to back it up instead of wasting everyones time and possibly creating enough hysteria that will lose this great opportunity for Marshalltown.
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