Monday, July 19, 2010
Environment Audubon, Sierra Club fight coal plant
Posted by Max Brantley on Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 9:18 AM
Add Audubon Arkansas and the Sierra Club to those seeking a federal court order to halt construction of the American Electric Power coal-burning plant in Hempstead County.
It represents an immediate danger to wetlands and water, the petition says.
NEWS RELEASE
On Friday, July 16, 2010, the National Audubon Society, Audubon Arkansas, and the Sierra Club filed a motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas to halt the construction of the proposed 600 MW Turk coal fired power plant in Hempstead County.
The motion filed also requests an expedited hearing on the matter because the destruction of wetlands on the construction site makes it a situation of immediate danger.
Lev Guter, Associate Field Organizer with the Sierra Club, stated, “Without a temporary restraining order, the impairment or destruction of the wetlands and surrounding ecosystem will be irreparable. Not only does burning coal poison our drinking water and air, but even the construction of such coal fired plants destroys valuable water and wetland resources. Those resources are being destroyed as we speak and thus the immediacy of the situation warrants a restraining order.”
Ellen Fennell, Interim Director with Audubon Arkansas, stated, “The U.S. Corps of Engineers (USCOE) issued water permits to SWEPCO without due process of law. It totally frustrated any public participation whatsoever in the permitting process for Turk, thereby violating its own regulatory procedures. We ask the Court to issue a TRO and remand the case back to the USCOE with instructions to comply with federal laws.”
Sierra Club, Audubon Arkansas and the National Audubon Society filed for an injunction in U.S. District Court in the Western District of Arkansas, Texarkana Division to stop Southwestern Power Company’s construction of the proposed John W. Turk 600 MW coal-fired plant in Hempstead County. The plaintiffs are represented by Richard H. Mays of Mays & White law firm of Heber Springs.
SWEPCO’s proposed John W. Turk, Jr. coal-fired plant sits on 2,800 acres of previously forested land that contains wetlands. Adjacent to the plant site is the Little River, from which SWEPCO proposes to pump 6,500 gallons per minute of water which is 10% of the river’s minimum flow. Also adjacent to the plant site are thousands of acres of some of the most valuable and ecologically sensitive areas in the state, including the Grassy Lake area which is widely recognized as one of the most outstanding examples of virgin Cyprus swamp existing.
The plant, already under construction, would cost upwards of $2 billion as well as contribute to climate change through releasing millions of metric tons of carbon dioxide each year. Turk’s construction not only would destroy 8 acres of highly ecologically valuable wetlands, but would also fill in 8,150 feet of stream.
Speaking of...
-
SWEPCO deal produces more 'green' spending
January 27, 2012The Sierra Club continues to tout fringe benefits from its deal to settle the fight against SWEPCO's coal-burning power plant in Hempstead County. /more/
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SWEPCO signs wind power deal
January 25, 2012SWEPCO (Southwestern Electric Power Co.) has has signed long-term power purchase agreements of renewable energy from wind projects in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, required as part of the settlement the utility reached with the Sierra Club, the National Audubon Society and Audubon Arkansas to end the suit to stop construction of the Turk coal power plant in Southwest Arkansas. /more/
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Sierra Club, Audubon settle with SWEPCO on Turk power plant
December 22, 2011The Sierra Club and Audubon Arkansas have announced a settlement with SWEPCO, the utility building the Turk coal-fired power plant in Hempstead County. /more/
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Sierra Club: LS Power to drop 2nd coal-fired unit at Plum Point
December 12, 2011The Sierra Club announced today it had struck an agreement with LS Power to cancel plans for two additional coal-fired electricity generating stations, one of them a second unit for the Plum Point plant near Osceola. /more/
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PC&E rolls over for SWEPCO again
December 2, 2011You'll be shocked, I'm sure, to learn that the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission went with pollution and against ecology again today in approving a wastewater permit for SWEPCO's Turk Plant, nearing completion in Hempstead County despite pending challenges by the Sierra Club. /more/
- More »
Comments (20)
Showing 1-20 of 20
Good for Audubon and Sierra Club. The myopia of our disastrous energy policy is linked directly to demand -OUR demand- for cheap energy at the expense of a healthy ecosystem. Couple our sense of entitlement with corporate greed and we reap what we sow--SWEPCO and their dismissive, arrogant ilk. When there are big bucks to be made, who gives a rip about immediate environmental impacts, much less the more nebulous (but all too real) specter of global warming. It's high time we stopped trading our future for short-term gain.
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Too big to fail and too far along to stop us now.
That was the strategy the whole time.
Louie, if they manage to stop it, do you need a real large boat anchor?
The whole plan was to put out a fait accomplished and then dare anyone to stop it. Let it be stopped and then maybe there will be some new leadership at the utility when the shareholders have to eat the losses and not the states or ratepayers.
Cheap power bills from coal-burning power plants, sure. Those are great. Know why the bills are cheap?
Because the coal industry doesn't have to pay for all the other damages it inflicts upon us. Those aren't in your monthly mailing from the power company. If they were, you'd be singing a different tune.
I'm talking about:
*your increased medical bills from breathing polluted air, drinking polluted water, and eating mercury-laden fish;
*the devastation wreaked by coal-mining on surrounding communities, in terms of both public health, miner safety, and to the waters/lands around coal plants
*the toxic risks of coal ash and coal sludge that's leftover after the coal is burned. Ask the folks in the TVA coal sludge disaster or, even more locally, the folks who live right over our border in Bokoshe, OK about how their lives and livelihoods have been affected by coal ash.
Yeah, cheap electricity. It sure is great.
I wish I had a reason to sue them too. I hate arrogance, but that is not an actionable cause.
>>Lordy, I do love cheap electricity.
Then trim your trees back and buy some solar panels. About as cheap to produce as possible until God figures out a way to bill you.
Wonder what would happen if gub-mint would make solar panel loans to homeowners?
We effectively make loans to utility companies regularly. Utilities are empowered to make investors of ratepayers by requiring rate increases for NEW DEVELOPMENT.
Oh, one more note to Louie. It won't be YOUR cheap electricity. Mostly it will go to Texas. You will just get that extra serving of mercury and arsenic. Yum, try it with ketchup.
Lorax is spot-on. If the true costs of our energy policies were passed along to the consumer we would see a shockingly different energy bill.
We like our cheap gasoline, too, but if the costs of our wasteful transportation "system" were passed on to the consumer we would need to factor in wars for oil, HUGE subsidies for infrastructure, and the (incalculable) cost of global warming.
Anyone or any entity so arrogant that they would destroy mountains with the intent to poison air, water and soil for decades... all without permission should be banished from the ability to conduct business at all.
As for cheap bills... Louie must have more money then cents now. My bill is outrageous.. and i only cool half my home.
They should be spending their resources out chasing the whaling vessels, like the Sea Shepards. Don't they know helpless whales are dieing every day, yet Sierra and Audoban are too worried about a power plant rather than concentrating on important things like protecting really big fish. Bunch of hypocrites.
Amen, ActMax. Sierra Club of Arkansas and Audubon Arkansas--instead of chasing whales in another part of the world, they're working on protecting people/the environment from poisonous pollution right here in ARKANSAS.
The nerve!
No I was being serious. I really wish they would go out and chase the whaling vessels. It is a very very dangerous thing to do.
If this is allowed to continue, where does it end? Can I go ahead and build my whorehouse down here in Monticello, even though it's illegal? Then when somebody complains, I'll just say, "hey, I've already built the whorehouse! You can't stop me now!" And if somebody points out that whoring is illegal in Arkansas, I'll just say, "I'm exporting the whores to Nevada, where they're legal, so no problemo! Also, seems like the entire Arkansas congressional delegation..." Wait. I'll just stop there.
You are comparing a legal activity with an illegal one. Whores and cheap electricity can go hand in hand, but they haven't legalized prostitution yet, why I don't know, but that is why we no longer live in a free society like we did in the 1800s.
Until we have meaningful election/campaign finance reform, prostitution is alive and well in the USA.
Prostitution is legal in Nevada, just not Arkansas. I'm building my whorehouse for Nevada prostitutes, but in Arkansas. Just like the PSC said we don't need the coal plant in Arkansas, so, don't build it, but SWEPCO decided to go ahead and build it anyway, for electricty for other states.
Once again it appears those opposing this plant could care less about the working folks at the plant. If they shut it down I doubt SW Arkansas will see anything in the way of new industry. Is that what the people of SW Ark want, no growth. I doubt it.
Should everyone in this part of Ark. just pack up and move to Dallas ?
Let's hope the plant continues and is operating soon.
There seems to be an idea that this plant will employ 100s of people. Most plants run with very small crews who work rotating shifts. Since the higher-paying management jobs are not there, you are talking of less than probably 40 jobs. A lot more involved in the ilegal construction. And the same number to tear it back down for scrap and those don't require more than a high school education.
SWEPCO said about 100 will be hired after the plant is completed. These will be very good jobs for this part of Ark. That is 100 good paying jobs that will help keep gas stations open, help with the economies of SW Ark. Such as, schools, city budgets etc. I'm glad SWEPCO did not go to Hallsville, Texas the proposed other site. Hallsville has plenty of job already as they are very near Longview, Texas. SW Ark. needs jobs and SWEPCO is providing them.
All the good jobs in the world don't offset the environmental costs. All the good jobs in the world don't cure the cancers that people will get from the heavy metals and particulates pumped into the air. All the good jobs in the world don't help the old people and children who won't be able to breathe. But you just go ahead, Texark and trade my health, and my family's health, for those theoretical jobs.
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