On Saturday a bunch of environmenatlist wackos protested at Peabody Coal’s Headquarters in downtown St. Louis. They are protesting a power plant that will be developed in Washington County, Illinois. The Power plat will be state of the art and will have %80 less emissions that most of the other power plants in the country using coal. The technology for coal power plants have steadily been getting more a more clean, but these people want to stop the progress of the economy. They want clean power, but will not let people use Nuclear Power plant, and the new coal powre plants that are very clean.
Protesters fight Peabody’s coal plant plans
Peabody says their criticism is overblown
BY SCOTT WUERZ
News-Democrat
ST. LOUIS –
–
A
group of about 50 protesters organized by the Sierra Club chanted and
waved signs in the shadow of Peabody Energy’s headquarters in downtown
St. Louis on Saturday.They were protesting plans for Peabody’s
Prairie State Energy Campus, a coal-fired power plant to be built near
Lively Grove in Washington County that environmentalists argue will
pollute the air and water in Southern Illinois.But Peabody
representatives say the criticism is overblown and that the plant is
part of a new generation of power stations that are more
environmentally friendly. They said it will release 80 percent less
emissions — including 15 percent less carbon dioxide — into the
atmosphere than older plants."Peabody claims the Prairie State
Energy Campus will be cheaper and more efficient," said Kathy Andria of
the American Bottoms Conservancy. "It’s cheaper for them, but what is
the cost for the environment?"Andria said that the Prairie State
campus will use massive amounts of water a year from the already low
Kaskaskia River and that it is expected to release 280 pounds of
mercury into the atmosphere a year when a quarter-teaspoon is enough to
contaminate an entire lake. She said the plant will produce a 15-story
tall pile a hazardous waste.Peabody spokeswoman Beth Sutton said
environmentalists have turned to protests after efforts to stop the
plant through the courts failed."The project’s state-of-the-art
environmental controls are affirmed through a recent unanimous decision
by the U.S. 7th (Circuit) Court (of Appeals) and confirmed by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency and the Illinois Environmental
Protection Agency following an extensive public review process," Sutton
said. "The vast majority of local residents are Prairie State
advocates, and more than 800 supporters celebrated the project’s
groundbreaking in October."Sutton said construction on the plant
is already under way and that it is expected to be in operation by
2012. It is expected to employ up to 2,300 during construction and
about 500 when it opens.Neighbors Virginia Wojtkowski and Mike
Murphy spoke against the plant at the rally. They accused Peabody of
hiding the true impact of the energy campus from neighbors and said
they worry about their children growing up near the plant and drinking
the water from their tap."We can’t give up just because they’re bigger than us," Wojtkowski said.
The
protesters said coal is a major contributor to global warming and that
no more coal-fired power plants should be allowed to be built.But
Sutton said that’s not practical because demands for electricity are at
an all-time high. She said Peabody is committed to continuing to make
coal power plants cleaner for the future.Contact reporter Scott Wuerz at swuerz@bnd.com or 239-2626.
Crossposted at Grizzly Goundswell
