T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) found no negative impacts on air quality from the proposed Bobcat Energy Center, which is to be built next to the current Marshalltown Generating Station. DNR staff also found no negative impacts on vegetation, soils or visibility.

Less than 20 people attended a virtual Bobcat Energy Center public hearing hosted by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) on Friday afternoon. The purpose of the hearing was to focus on the Interstate Power and Light Company, also known as Alliant Energy, air quality permit applications for the center, and it was the final opportunity for people to make their voices heard.

DNR Air Quality Bureau Senior Engineer Michael Hermsen said the Alliant proposal is for the construction of three new natural gas combustion turbines to be called the Bobcat Energy Center.

“These units are designed to operate as peaking units to help supply electricity during a period of high demand,” he said, adding that each turbine will have an annual limit of 3,500 hours.

Attendee Layne Pieri asked for further information on why the 3,500 limit was established, and if it is intended to keep the project below a specific emissions threshold. Pieri did not receive an answer during the hearing.

Due to the size of the potential emissions of the project, Hermsen said it had fallen under the state and federal preconstruction review process known as the Prevention of Significant Deterioration.

Before opening the meeting to comments, he said the project has passed air quality inspections. His department evaluated the emissions, such as nitrous oxides, organic compounds, urban oxides and greenhouse gases. Extensive computer modeling of air dispersion was also performed to evaluate the potential emissions on the surrounding air quality.

“The result of the comprehensive modeling [show] the emissions from the project will not cause or contribute to a violation of any national air quality standards, which are federal health-based limits designed to protect health and the environment,” he said.

The modeling also showed there will be no negative impacts on soil, vegetation or visibility.

“In summary, based on our thorough, technical and legal evaluation, the proposed project with implemented equipment meets all applicable state and federal requirements,” Hermsen said.

Some of the questions asked were not relevant to air quality and thus not ones DNR staff could answer, such as how close the current system is to the maximum – 650 megawatts – during peak hours. DNR Construction Supervisor Peter Zayudis responded that was a question for the Iowa Utilities Board. DNR meeting facilitator Nathaniel Tatar said the peak hours are likely reached in the summer months when air conditioning units are being utilized.

Attendee Jan McGinnis, who lives north of the Marshalltown Generating Station where the Bobcat Energy Center will be located, asked if people were going to struggle with property taxes as a result of the project. She also inquired about if there were plans to purchase land in order to build.

Zayudis told her the DNR’s role is to evaluate the issuance of air quality permits.

“We’re not involved in land purchasing or anything like that,” he said. “We wouldn’t really know the answer to the question if [Alliant] has to add additional property, but we do know this is on the current site.”

Maggie Valentine suggested future public hearings be advertised on a larger scale, especially since only 17 people attended. She asked for another public hearing to be hosted, with better advertising beforehand.

“I found out about the meeting by accident and talked to people, and almost nobody had a clue about the expansion,” Valentine said. “The people that did know about it didn’t know there was an opportunity to make public comment. I guess to truly get a good picture of public opinion, people have to be made sufficiently aware of the issue and opportunity to comment on it. The people I talked to, mostly, didn’t seem in favor of an expansion because of concerns of air quality, which are not a concern, but I was reading things that made it seem like a concern, and absorbing the cost of paying for this upgrade.”

Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.