Coal Power Plant

OK, so in Environmental Law we had a panel on the proposed power plant. It is interesting to see what is going on.

So the pro CPP went first (CPP=coal power plant). He says that the power plant will be fairly clean and they will take out mercury, and if it happens, by paying for a part of it, tally will have a say in what happens and so on. he compared the plant with several other plants in Florida, and this one seems to be the cleanest. it seems like it will emit the least particles, both per btu and per year. he did say that it would solve the looming energy crisis in this area, and that utility bills would go down. the only thing with his presentation though, is that everything is projected amounts, not real amounts, and so i dunno how valid the charts are...

Then another guy went. He wasn't very compelling. He rambled and didn't really make his point. but it was essentially that there was a cleaner less expensive way to solve the energy problem. he suggested refurbishing a hydroelectric plant, and modifying another plant, which would save us about 1/3 of the cost, and keep us in energy for about 15 to 20 years. course then we'd need something else, btu his contention was that then there would be newer, cleaner more efficient cost effective methods for energy production.

The final guy went, and he was a little more on point that the 2d guy, i felt. He was a con cpp guy. He made some good points. First, the plant is not a sure thing. there are many steps to go through first. financing isnt set yet either. finally, the taylor county referendum says that they support a coal gasification plant. but the plant proposed is not coal gasification. so the taylor county resolution doesnt mean much. so several of the things that the power plant people are resting on aren't sure things.

then we have counter arguments and debates. the pro guy contends that the coal plant will have emissions virtually the same as some high tech plants, except those plants cost 3 times as much. and then the con guy says that 3 months ago, the power plant people said that natural gas plants were the best plants to have. and now they are trying to sell a coal powered plant. he asked why JEA had switched, and then answered his question by saying that natural gas became more expensive (due to katrina and such) and so now it would be cheaper to do coal power plants.

then there was a couple of questions about environmental impact, none of which was answered well.

but the con guy was pushing for an interesting thing. he was saying that the coal plant was backed by JEA (jacksonville energy a-something). and he contended that the reason that the coal power plant was being proposed for taylor county was that jacksonville residents would never support something like coal plant when they could have gasification or natural gas plants instead. the pro guy contended that the plant was to be here because Jville already had 4 powerplants built in its area, and JEA thought enough was enough.

one thing they werent explicit enough about was whata yes vote would mean. do we get a share in what happens? do we get higher taxes?

Before this I was in favor of voting yes on the ballot. after all, if the power plant is being built near us, we should try to have some control over what happens in it and benefit from it. but now i dont know if i would vote yes. it seems like the plant is not even for sure gonna happen. although, if it does or does not happen, our vote isnt the deciding factor. i dunno. i must think this over.