Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2006 8:36 pm Post subject: Schweitzer's
$1.3
billion IGCC plant
There are several important points which should be noted
about
this event. First, it is exactly the sort of plant which we've been
telling
the city and SME they should build near Great Falls -- if they want or
need
to build more coal-based energy systems (and we insist they don't need
to do
this). Basin Electric, a North Dakota co-op, is building a similar
facility,
and has offered to sell SME power at long-term, cost-effective rates.
Second, it will only add to Montana's generating capacity,
which
is already more than double what we use, here. Thus, this plant (and
indeed,
all new proposed plants) are really "merchant plants", whose power will
be
exported to other states, leaving us with depleted resources, huge
pollution
streams, and superfund cleanup sites down the road. This is a very bad
idea
for "economic development" and "cheap power."
Third, we advocated IGCC technology over CFB (straight
coal-burners) for the Highwood Station because it is relatively
pollution-free; and the huge amount of CO2 it emits (the equivalent of
560,000 cars and trucks for the Highwood plant) can potentially be
"sequestered", or pumped back into the ground so it doesn't add to
global
warming. These are all pluses for the Bull Mountain plant.
SME and Mr Lawton have been lying to us all along, that IGCC
isn't financeable and is "unproven" technology. About 1/4 of currently
proposed coal plants are IGCC (some 30 of them nationwide). We must do
IGCC
for the local Highwood station, or no coal at all. Carbon taxes will
soon
increase the cost of coal-fired power by a factor of 2-3, or even more,
once
wind is widely established. The Highwood Station as proposed will never
cover its costs, and will be a great liability both to city and local
finances and to our health, the tourist industry, the arts, and other
major
growth sectors in central Montana. Those who want to build the Highwood
station are out to harm us. The "benefits" they offer in turn are merely
taxes and a few jobs. Think about it. Should it take an investment of
$550
million dollars to create 65 jobs? This is absurd. The Highwood Station
will
never produce any power for the people of Great Falls.
Paul Stephens Member of Citizens for Clean Energy