Hearing on Meigs power plant gets hotter than a coal furnace
By Jim Phillips
August 7, 2008
Emotions got fired up Tuesday night during a public hearing on permits related to a coal-fired power plant proposed for Meigs County, about 30 miles south of Athens.
Over 100 people showed up at the hearing in Racine, to let officials of the Ohio EPA know how they feel about the project, and speakers both for and against the plant vented plenty of passion at the microphone.
More than once, moderator Jed Thorp of the EPA’s Public Interest Center had to remind supporters of the project not to badger project opponents during their comments.
“You don’t have to agree with what people say in this hearing, but you’ve got to let them say it,” Thorp warned.
American Municipal Power-Ohio (AMP-Ohio) wants to build a power plant in Meigs County. The hearing Tuesday related to a solid-waste permit application for a landfill to handle pollutants from the plant – mainly coal ash – and a water discharge permit for release of toxins into the Ohio River, from wastewater treatment facilities.
Plans include a 133-acre landfill near Racine, between Ohio Rt. 124 and East Letart Road. It would take 27 million cubic yards of waste, mainly bottom ash, fly ash, gypsum, and sludge from smokestack scrubbers.
Most people who attended the hearing favored the project as a desperately needed source of jobs – a fact brought out when Meigs County Commissioner Mick Davenport asked all supporters in the room to stand, and most people promptly got to their feet.
“That’s an overwhelming majority,” Davenport declared. He told the EPA officials that “virtually every elected official in the county of Meigs” supports the project.
That view was seconded by David Spencer, clerk-treasurer of the village of Racine, who testified that the village “is in total support of this project – have been from the get-go.”
More than one supporter of the project suggested that opposition comes mainly from people who live outside the area.
Nachy Kanfer of the Sierra Club, however – who readily acknowledged that he lives in Columbus – said supporters should think harder about how much concern AMP-Ohio actually has for the region. Noting that bankers and investors will be involved with the project, Kanfer asked, “think they’re from Meigs County? Think there’s a single (AMP-Ohio) board member that’s from Meigs County?”
Kanfer also produced an internal e-mail from Ohio EPA, in which a staffer admitted to a superior on April 10 that he was “struggling personally and professionally” with finding economic and social justification for the AMP-Ohio project.
The staffer, Michael Yandrich, who was present at the public hearing, declined to answer questions about the e-mail, saying the issue would be addressed in the agency’s official response to comments at the hearing.
Kanfer warned that as written, the permit requested by AMP-Ohio would allow release of up to 172 pounds of mercury annually from the plant. “That’s a lot of mercury,” he said.
Perhaps the most vehement pro-AMP comments of the night came from Greg Sheets of Pomeroy, who opened by brandishing a small weed in a Styrofoam cup, which he said he had found growing in bottom ash from a coal-fired power plant. This fact, he suggested, shows that waste from such a plant is nothing to be afraid of.
Sheets blasted groups like the Sierra Club and the National Resources Defense Council, which he said are bucking the will of the great majority of citizens when they oppose projects like the AMP-Ohio plant. He poured particular outrage on a group of protesters who recently staged a sit-in of the AMP-Ohio offices in Columbus, allegedly “terrorizing” the employees of the company.
Sheets also invoked the prospect of the United States running short of energy if it doesn’t build new power plants utilizing domestic fuel resources like coal.
“Will we go to rolling blackouts?” he demanded. “Will we go to energy rationing?” He urged opponents of the plant to go instead to China, and protest that country’s increasing construction of what he called very dirty coal-fired plants. “You will only need a one-way ticket,” he added. “Because it will be a long time before you are released from prison.”
Natalie Fox of Athens, by contrast, got more heckling than applause when she stood to voice her concerns about the plant.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” shouted a man from the back of the room, as Fox tried to warn of the dangers of global warming.
“Please be respectful,” she asked the audience. “I was sitting here quietly in my seat (when project supporters spoke). Please do the same.”
Fox said residence in Meigs County shouldn’t be a prerequisite for expressing an opinion on a project that has the potential to affect climate conditions worldwide.
“I don’t live here, but I don’t understand why there needs to be more coal-fired power plants,” she said.
Mary Beth Lohse of Pomeroy noted that AMP-Ohio officials have said they’re committed to using the “Powerspan” system, which would turn scrubber sludge into fertilizer that can be sold, rather than gypsum that has to be landfilled. “Obviously, people believe them,” based on comments at the hearing, she added.
However, Lohse noted, the company’s permit application calls for a much larger landfill area than it needs if it will actually use Powerspan, a fact she suggested calls into question its stated commitment to using the system. She also cited the fact that the company has asked for an exemption in its permit, to allow it to not install a liner in sediments ponds that will handle runoff from the landfill.
“If there is a good reason for this request, why isn’t it stated in the permit?” she asked.
On Wednesday, Kent D. Carson, director of communications for AMP-Ohio, said the company has asked the EPA to waive the liner requirement for the ponds simply because it’s not needed, as the water going to the ponds won’t contain anything more toxic than mud from the Ohio River.
As for the landfill capacity, he said, the permit application was submitted at a time when the company hadn’t known for sure that it was going to use Powerspan. Since then, he said, the AMP-Ohio board has adopted a resolution to use the technology. Rather than amend the permit application, he said, the company plans to simply extend the life of the landfill from its stated 40 years, because it will be putting less waste into it annually before it is full and needs to be closed.
“Believe me, the commitment (to Powerspan) is there,” he vowed.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Tom Barnet of Millfield cited EPA toxic inventory numbers comparing the amounts of toxic released in the dirtiest counties of California and those of Ohio. Whereas Los Angeles County has numbers around 7 million pounds a year, he said, counties in Ohio like Jefferson and Lucas dwarf that number, with more than 22 million and 56 million pounds respectively.
“Ohio is the number-one toxic-waste-emitting state in the United States,” he roared. “Shame on Ohio.”
“If you don’t like it, get out,” shouted back an audience member.
Kyla Neilan, who lives and works on a farm near Racine, said she is worried about the cumulative impact of emissions of toxic metals such as mercury, aluminum and manganese, and noted that industrial plants in the region are already putting various pollutants into the environment. “I hate that I have to choose between the job that I have which I really love, and my health, which has been suffering since I moved here,” she said.
Elisa Young of Racine said she’s dismayed by the divisiveness that has arisen among local people over the plant. She said she would like to see a human health impact study on the proposed plant, and also argued that too many polluting facilities are concentrated in poorer areas such as Appalachia.
“If that is not an example of environmental injustice… I’ve never seen one,” she said.
EPA will take written comments on the project through Aug. 26, then make a decision on the permit applications.
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