Posted on 12/10/2006 10:16:41 PM PST by WayneLusvardi
Trucking through the Green Haze in Truckee The Pasadena Pundit
Curiously omitted in California’s large newspapers covering the story of the City of Truckee's decision whether to renew its contract for coal-fired power from the Intermountain Power Plant (IPP) in Utah is that the proposed plant expansion will apparently meet all air quality standards (see SFGate.com http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/10/BAGJGMSTB01.DTL and see SacBee.com http://subscriber.sacbee.com/user_registration/login/?goto=http%3A//www.sacbee.com/324/story/89876.html).
According to the State of Utah Department of Environmental Quality: "The IPP will meet all primary and secondary National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The IPP will also meet Class I increments in the National Parks in southern Utah and Class II PSD increments in the vicinity of the plant" (see: http://www.airquality.utah.gov/Permits/DOCS/IN0327010-04.pdf. The power plant's 710 foot stack removes 99.75 percent of all the particulates that would have gone into the atmosphere in an earlier day (see: http://utahreach.org/Millard/visitor/tour/ipp.htm). Additionally, the IPP is one of the five lowest plants in sulfur oxide (S02) emissions in the U.S. according to the First Annual Top Plants Survey conducted by Power magazine in August 2002.
The apparent concern is not health impacts, but wealth impacts on the tourist economy in Utah due to the haze around Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Zion, Canyonlands and Arches national parks. (see here: http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,595073692,00.html).
Ironically, if California cities do not extend their contracts with IPP it is unlikely there would be sufficient resources to expand the capacity of transmission line links for such cities to buy 20% of their energy from green power sources as now required by SB 1368.
True to form California’s large newspapers have portrayed this story as a “bargain with the devil of Big Coal” and as the small town of Truckee selling out its global responsibilities. There are no morally superior environmental champions on either side of the debate whether to extend Truckee's energy contract or not; there are only environmentally negative results no matter which choice is made. In a second or third best world the rule of thumb for policy makers is that "the best should not be the enemy of the good.”
LOL
I suppose the customers have no say in this? Well, Utah could use the cheap power.
They are in the throes of a religious fever. Logic and common sense don't enter into the equation.
I suppose not, but when the lights go out, then who will they blame?
I am starting to think that living in Califlowerland makes a person behave like a lemming, just looking for a cliff.
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