Click here for a printable version of this information. August 17, 2009 Dear Editor: On behalf of the 2.5 million households to be served by the Prairie State Energy Campus, we have grave reservations with provisions of the federal climate change bill – HR 2454. The Prairie State Energy Campus is a 1600 megawatt supercritical, cutting edge power plant near Marissa, Illinois. It is the largest public power construction project in the United States, at a cost approaching $4 billion, and will be the home town energy supplier to many consumers across nine states. In addition to providing a clean, low cost source of public power, Prairie State is a significant contributor fueling our struggling economic engine. We currently have over 2,000 workers on site. Over 2,300 workers are expected at peak construction next year, and the campus will provide 500 permanent, high pay, skilled jobs upon completion. The climate change bill would have a devastating impact on this project. We are a new entrant under the bill, and the current allocation of emissions credits would significantly financially disadvantage the facility versus older, less efficient generating sources. Prairie State will significantly improve the environment by displacing existing, less-efficient power plants. Prairie State’s efficient design means that even its carbon dioxide emissions will be about 15% less than the typical U.S. coal plant, even though CO2 is currently unregulated. The cost burden of the bill is unfair not only to the future consumers of Prairie State, but is also generally unfair to consumers in the Midwest due to the much higher percentage use of coal powered plants. These costs will be borne by our consumers, the municipal taxpayers and rural electric cooperative members who will pay - and pay again - in this already challenging economy. The bill places no significant limit on the cost of this massive program. Unrealistic reduction targets, insufficient time to develop the program, and lack of a cost cap is a recipe for economic disaster. This bill, with an estimated price tag that could cost over $3 trillion in the first 20 years, is being moved so quickly that there is no time to understand all of its harmful side effects. It has the steepest reduction targets of any major proposal ever considered by Congress. The implementation schedule is so ambitious that the regulatory bodies cannot properly provide the public comment opportunity needed to successfully and fairly implement the bill. Though Prairie State has the potential to accept greenhouse gas capture systems, there are no commercially-available, proven, cost-effective technologies. This is a gamble with our consumers’ hard earned money. It further gambles away our economic prosperity by hobbling the United State’s ability to compete fairly for business and jobs in the global marketplace. With a lack of international cooperation and developing countries failing to do the same as us, our jobs will go overseas, and this costly program will have no impact on the environment. Sincerely,
Peter DeQuattro |
Prairie State Energy Campus
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