Jackson Free Press

The Mississippi Sierra Club, AFL-CIO and NAACP strongly oppose Mississippi Power Company's proposal to build a $2.4 billion "clean coal" plant and adjoining mine in Kemper County.

Mississippi Power's arguments for the plant are built on three myths that have little or no basis in fact. The truth is that the Kemper coal plant: 1. is unnecessary; 2. is astronomically expensive and will drive up customer bills; and 3. would be a major polluter.

Let's start with Myth No. 1. Mississippi Power argues that South Mississippi will run out of electricity if this plant is not built. This is not true. Mississippi currently has independently-owned power plants that can supply almost three times the amount of power the entire state requires at peak times. But MPCO refuses to purchase power from these plants except on rare occasions.

Twelve natural gas-fired power plants sit idle 85 percent of the time but could provide up to 7,993 megawatts of power, according to the Public Service Commission. Mississippi Power's proposal would produce less than 600 megawatts of power.

Myth No. 2 is that the plant will not raise the bills of Mississippi Power's customers. The price tag for the plant is $2.4 billion—and rising. This represents by far the largest capital expenditure ever put into an electric utility's customer rate base in the history of our state.

A PSC expert testified this year that if the cost of the Kemper plant were "allowed to be put into rates, then Mississippi Power's rates would increase substantially as compared to rates of today."

Mississippi Power wants consumers to foot the bill for this $2.4 billion plant upfront, even if they never use the electricity. The company has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying the state legislature to change state law to allow the cost of this plant to be shifted from stockholders to customers. However, if this plant makes financial sense, Mississippi Power's shareholders should fund it.

Myth No. 3 is that the Kemper coal plant is "clean coal." Mississippi Power's proposal involves digging up 45 square miles of Kemper County for strip mining, displacing hundreds of residents while destroying streams and wetlands. Five hundred acres would become a dump for toxic coal ash from the plant. The plant itself would be classified as a major air polluter under the federal Clean Air Act.

Mississippi Power proposes to capture and sell 65 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions from the plant. However, the company does not yet have anyone to buy this carbon dioxide, and until a buyer is secured, MPCO will not commit to this reduction in emissions in its air permit. Alternatively, consumers would bear the cost of disposing of these emissions.

The Kemper plant will also emit up to 63 pounds of mercury per year, despite new technologies used. Over time, that's enough toxic mercury to contaminate thousands of water bodies and millions of pounds of fish. When whole river systems in Mississippi are already so contaminated with mercury that the fish pose a danger to pregnant women, why allow more contamination when there are better alternatives? Just improving efficiency in energy use could prevent the need to expand capacity for years.

The citizens of Mississippi should reject this dirty, expensive and unnecessary coal plant proposal. On Oct. 5 the Mississippi Public Service Commissioners will begin hearings to decide the fate of this proposal. It's time to say: "Thanks but no thanks."

We can do better.

Miller is Sierra Club senior regional representative in Mississippi. This column is courtesy of the Mississippi Forum (P.O. Box 3515, Jackson 39207-3515), a nonprofit, nonpartisan, educational organization that provides the media with the views of state experts on major public concerns in order to stimulate informed discussion.

Previous Comments

ID

152310

Comment

Kemper needs all the help it can get! If this plant will create jobs and help improve the area then i am all for it. All i can say is that i am grateful i don't live in Kemper County! This makes me think back to when Entergy decided it needed to raise its rates when a gallon of gas hit $4 back in the summer 2008. But then gas prices went down, so they really didn't need to raise the rates. This has the same smell to it!

Author

August West

Date

2009-09-25T12:40:04-06:00

ID

152314

Comment

August, your post makes no sense. You start out saying you're all for the plant, then say you're glad you don't live there and talk about how raising rates stinks. Are you in favor of the plant or not?. The coal plant will certainly not "improve the area" if it requires "digging up 45 square miles of Kemper County for strip mining, displacing hundreds of residents while destroying streams and wetlands. Five hundred acres would become a dump for toxic coal ash from the plant." The JFP has published several stories about the proposed plant. See Proposed coal plant finds opposition, No rate increases for coal plants and Energy Overkill? to start.

Author

Ronni_Mott

Date

2009-09-25T13:52:50-06:00

ID

152316

Comment

It doesn't make sense to you! So what? Kemper needs the jobs and if that helps that area then all well and good. I am glad i don't live there so i really don't give a damn one way or the other. What streams and wetlands does Kemper County have? IS that the Tombigbee that runs through Kemper? Kemper has hundreds of residents? Where? In Scooba? The last time i was in Dekalb i didn't notice any streams or wetlands! Kemper could use 45 square miles for strip mining because lord knows they don't have anything else.

Author

August West

Date

2009-09-25T14:12:33-06:00

ID

152317

Comment

Y'all should do some more research. Kemper County does not have any rivers or wetlands, so it is not like they would be upsetting the waterfowl! Maybe that is why they chose Kemper County for the site! Nothing is in Kemper County except EMCC and Dekalb, ever been there? Probably not! There is also a town called Moscow in Kemper County, you probably didn't know that either! Oh Yeah! John Stennis! Wonder why they didn't build the Stennis Nasa Institute in Kemper and it was built in Hancock COunty? No water!

Author

August West

Date

2009-09-25T14:22:44-06:00

ID

152322

Comment

August, please be respectful of other users here in your post? We don't do the "so what?" kind of thing. Ronni's point was that your original post seemed to contain conflicting arguments, both stated rather vehemently. A bit of clarity will help others engage in a conversation with you. That's all. Your comments don't show up right away because you're new and, thus, a "guest" until we know that you're not likely to violate the user rules. And when we're busy, we don't always get to look at them more than once a day. So be patient; there's no conspiracy to keep you or anyone else out. ;-) People only do that themselves.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2009-09-25T18:11:45-06:00

ID

152323

Comment

According to a state map I have, there is a stream that runs through Kemper County that flows to Okatibbee Lake north of Meridian. Regardless if there's a stream, river, lake, pond or ocean, there are some bodies of water that have fish in them and a coal plant can cause pollution to the water and the air. While a $2 billion plant would be welcome news on any given day, all the pollution involved is not worth selling our souls to the devil.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2009-09-25T18:31:17-06:00

ID

152324

Comment

August, the research is easy. Kemper County had 10,453 residents according to the 2000 census. I imagine that at least some of them might object to using 45 square miles for strip mining, unlike yourself. But then, you *don't* live there, and by your own admission, you don't give a damn what happens there. And, just because you didn't notice something the last time you were there isn't particularly convincing evidence that something doesn't exist. Four miles northeast of DeKalb is the second largest fishing lake in Mississippi, the Kemper County Lake, which covers some 600 acres. The proposed site of the plant contains a floodplain and wetlands, according to the Environmental Impact Study published in The Federal Register of Sept. 22, 2008. As to why the Stennis Center is in Hancock County, one reason is because the center needed barge access, because the rockets tested there are too large for overland transport, not because there's "no water" in Kemper County. No doubt Kemper County needs jobs, but with an August unemployment rate of 10.6 percent, it's hardly one of the hardest hit counties in the state. Noxubee County just to its north, has an 18 percent jobless rate. Jobs are certainly needed in Kemper County as they are in many areas of the state and the country. Some of us happen to think that there may be other considerations worth looking at before we plunge headlong into spending $2.4 billion dollars, which, by the research I've seen, is not necessary, and will undoubtedly be passed on to rate payers.

Author

Ronni_Mott

Date

2009-09-25T19:04:34-06:00