Coal Power Plant Blocked in Iowa

Coal Power Plant Blocked in Iowa



October 2007

 Opponents of a new coal-fired 
power plant proposed in Waterloo, including the Sierra Club and the Iowa 
Farmers Union, celebrated a victory Thursday when a state panel rejected 
the City of Waterloo's request to annex land for the plant. 
The City Development Board decided that the annexation of land owned by 
residents who oppose the annexation did not meet the state guidelines for 
approval. Hundreds of citizens protested the annexation at a hearing in 
September. 
LS Power is proposing the $1.5 billion, 750-megawatt plant to serve up to 
500,000 homes, some of which may be out of the state. 
"It was clear that this annexation was not in the public interest," said 
Carole Yates of the Cedar Prairie Group of the Sierra Club. "Coal-fired 
power plants are the largest source of global warming in the country and 
this proposal was a collection of worst practices - for our energy system, 
for our economy, for the environment, and for our community." 
The annexation proposal came before the City Development Board because a 
landowner, retired farmer Merle Bell, is standing against the plant. Last 
month more than 500 people rallied at Bell's farm in support of Bell and 
against LS Power. His farm has been in his family for more than a century. 

"I've lived on this land all my life," says Bell. "I promised my father 
I'd never sell the farm and I don't want to sell." 
Bell was joined in opposing the annexation and development of the site by 
neighbor Phyllis Morgan and 17 farmers who are opposed to plans for 
transmission lines across their land. 
The farmers' resistance attracted the attention of Iowa Farmers Union, 
which officially opposes the plant. "We have concluded that farmers 
benefit more from farm-based renewable energy than from giant new coal 
plants. We consider plants like this a threat to a sustainable, farm-based 
rural economy," said Gregg Heide of Pomeroy, board member of Iowa Farmers 
Union. 
Sierra Club and the citizen advocacy group, Community Energy Solutions, 
represented by nonprofit law firm Plains Justice, filed briefs against the 
proposal. 
"This is the beginning of the end for LS Power in Iowa," said Sierra Club 
organizer Mark Kresowik. "States across the country are recognizing the 
dangers of overdependence on coal and have rejected new plants. It's time 
for Governor Culver to truly embrace energy efficiency and renewable 
energy and say no to more dirty coal." 
The lack of annexation approval may not mean the end for this project as 
the city can reapply with a different configuration of land to be annexed. 

LS Power Project Manager Mark Milburn said the vote does not derail the 
project, which could go on even without annexation. But the utility wants 
to pay taxes to the city, and it makes sense to add the land to the 
already developed nearby industrial park, he said. 
Florida, Oklahoma, Delaware, Idaho, and California have rejected new coal 
plants in favor of cleaner energy options in the past 12 months. 

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