Angela Brandt Havre Daily News abrandt@havredailynews.com
Speakers at a Wednesday night meeting on the proposed coal-fired power plant northeast of Great Falls said the Havre crowd was the most “lively” and “animated” and had the “most robust discussion” of the four gatherings they have conducted. Organizers are concerned about the plant’s impacts on the Hi-Line. Previous discussions were held in Great Falls, Fort Benton and on Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation. About 25 local elected officials, legislators and members of the public met in the community center at the Holiday Village Shopping Center to learn more about the planned plant. Patrick Judge and Anne Hedges of the Montana Environmental Information Center presented the impacts on the Hi-Line of the proposed Highwood Generating Station, a 250- megawatt, coal-fired power plant, which would be built about seven miles east of Great Falls and burn about a million tons of coal yearly. One of the concerns is that air pollution from the proposed plant will drift north to Rocky Boy and Havre, Hedges said. The plant has an estimated price tag of $515 million and is set to be built by 2011 by the Southern Montana Electric Generation and Transmission Cooperative, which represents Great Falls, plus five rural nonprofit companies with about 25,000 members that are based in Huntley, Red Lodge, Lewistown, Hysham and Ashland. State Sen. Ken “Kim” Hansen, Dharlem, asked the presenters and the crowd, “Why Great Falls?” Judge said the accessibility of water and manpower are two of the main reasons. The plant will use 3.2 million gallons of water a day from the Missouri River and 1.2 billion gallons a year, he said. Of that amount, 90 percent will evaporate. United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry union agent Ole Stimac said Great Falls was chosen because it is an urban center and has a large workforce. Union workers will help build the plant, which will require an average of about 400 workers for the 3 years of construction and about 70 permanent jobs, Stimac said. He said as many local workers as possible will be used for the project and if Montana resources are exhausted, the jobs will be given to other employees from the Northwest. Cooperative general manager Tim Gregori said Tuesday its members are longtime Montana residents who have taken the state’s environment and communities into consideration while planning the project. Attorney Candace Payne, who has been hired by the co-op as a governmental relations specialist, said the “people building this plant are Montanans.” “It’s a co-op. They’re not trying to kill people they have kids that live here. They look like you,” Payne said. She said the members of the co-op “sweated” over the decision of what type of plant to build. Hedges said alternative energy generation like wind power is a much more viable option for the Great Falls area. Although its developers consider the proposed plant as the cleanest in the nation, it it is based on 20-yearElectricity,” she said. Judge said the state could power itself 70 times over with its wind power capabilities alone. The coal-burning process is archaic compared to the state-ofthe- art integrated gasification combined cycle, which produces less pollution but is more costly, Hedges said. Each year, the planned plant would emit 443 tons of sulphur dioxide, 46 pounds of mercury and 1.9 million tons of carbon dioxide, she said. The co-op is seeking air-quality permits from the state Department of Environmental Quality. A federal environmental impact study must also be completed. Vice chair of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation tribal executive board Roxanne Gourneau said the list of emissions put off by a coal-fired plant almost look like the recipe for methamphetamine. “I see all the same ingredients as meth,” she said. Gourneau said the answer to the concerns voiced at the meeting are to communicate with local legislators and encourage them to fund studies on the impacts of coal-fired plants. State Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy said he plans to do just that. “Right now, there is not enough documentation to justify either side,” Windy Boy said in an interview today. “We need to studies on the impacts, especially on agriculture.” “We need to get the hard facts the hard coal facts,” he said. The Rocky Boy tribal council, of which Windy Boy is also a member, has passed a resolution opposing the building of the coalfired power plant, citing health concerns. Hedges discussed the possible environmental impacts of the plant including the emission of mercury, a potent toxin. She said many mercury warnings already exist in the region from past mining activities. The mercury deposits make eating fish caught in the area a hazard in about 400,000 acres of lakes in the state, she said. “Mercury impacts human development in very, very small doses,” Hedges said. She said mercury is known to cause autism, mental retardation, immune system dysfunction and learning disabilities in children. Coal also is full of lead and arsenic, which along with mercury are known to cause respiratory problems. “Coal is the dirtiest way,” Hedges said. Gregori said mercury is a natural occurring element and two of the geyser basins in Yellowstone National Park produce from about 250 to 400 pounds of mercury a year, while the proposed plant will produce about 20 pounds per year. Hedges said nothing can be done with Mother Nature but producers can have a say in what occurs in their realm. “In Montana, coal-fired power plants cause 92 percent of the human-caused airborne mercury,” she said. Gregori said the cooperative plans on meeting with county governments from the areas surrounding the plant to put together a presentation to answer the public’s questions. Judge said the emissions from coal-burning plants are a major factor in global warming. Since 1880, 20 of the hottest years on record have occurred in the last 25 years, he said. “It’s an accepted scientific fact now,” Judge said to the crowd. “We are seeing the impacts in Montana as well as the world.” He said one of the major examples of the heating trend is what was “formerly known as Glacier National Park.” In 1850, Judge said, the park housed 150 glaciers and now has 26. “It’s affecting us and it’s time to take action,” he said. Judge said the Highwood plant would make more energy than the five communities in the co-op could ever need. The plant will generate about 250 megawatts of power, while the communities will use about 50 megawatts. A draft of the impact study will be published next week. The federal Rural Utilities Service and DEQ will accept public comment. old technology, she said. “This is not a clean way to generate
