Critics of coal-power plant set Davis meeting

Several Davis County residents are holding a public meeting tonight to ask the city of Bountiful to refrain from taking part in the construction of a 950-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Millard County.

The plant is planned to be built next to two existing coal plants near Lynndyl that are operated by the South Jordan-based Intermountain Power Agency. At least 28 Utah municipalities, including Bountiful, are considering whether to sign a contract to use power from the new plant, according to the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems.

Construction of the plant is pending an appeal by the Sierra Club and the Grand Canyon Trust to the Utah Air Quality Board to overturn an air-quality permit granted to the Intermountain Power Agency. The two environmental groups filed the appeal in 2005, but the board rejected it, and the environmentalists took the matter to the state Supreme Court, which ruled in their favor last year.

Next week, attorneys for the state and the two environmental groups will meet to determine a time line to resolve the appeal.

Stephanie Colquitt, a Bountiful resident who organized tonight's meeting, said Wednesday that she wants to educate the public about the dangers of pollutants from the coal plant and other sources. She also wants Bountiful to consider other options to generate power, including wind technology or solar energy.

"I have children and grandchildren who live along the Wasatch Front, and I am very concerned about their health with all the pollution," she said in an e-mail. "If Bountiful contracts with (Intermountain Power) to purchase power, and another coal plant is built, how will we manage another 7 million tons of toxic pollution in our air?"

Tim Wagner, with the Utah Smart Energy Campaign and Utah chapter of the Sierra Club, said Wednesday that the new plant would emit millions of tons of carbon and mercury into the air, traveling south into the canyons of southern Utah and north into the Salt Lake Valley.

Wagner plans to speak at the meeting tonight, along with Gerald H. Ross, M.D., who Colquitt described as "an expert on environmental influences on human health." Wagner will be talking about global warming and alternative ways to produce energy.

Reed Searle, general manager of the Intermountain Power Agency, said Wednesday that he was aware of the concerns about coal power, but that right now it's an option that must be used in combination with renewable energy sources if people want consistent reliable power.