Bowie Power Station

New movement from the power plant people

2009-10-26T09:04:00.000-07:00

After all this time, there have been some stirrings from the Southwestern Power Group, the ones who hope to build a power plant in Bowie. I got the following in email from Mike Jackson, who likes to keep tabs on the county supervisors and let people know what they're up to.

For the November 10 BOS meeting: a hearing (Action Item or Public Hearing not specified) on the request by "Southwestern Power Group II, LLC [Phoenix] ... for a 5 year time extension to make substantial construction progress for the Bowie Power Station, a natural gas-fired power generation plant (approved in 2002) located approximately 2 miles north of the unincorporated community of Bowie ...."

In September 2002, the BOA approved rezoning 260 acres to establish the Bowie Power Station. "The rezoning was conditioned upon making substantial construction progress within 5 years," that is by 2007.

In September 2007, the BOS extended the deadline three years, to December 31, 2010.

Now the BOS is asked to extend the deadline a total of eight years, to December 31, 2015. The Docket number is Z-02-13A.

Along with a comment from Hedley Bond:
"Given that essentially nothing has happened on this project in 7 years, an additional 5 years seems like a major request. There was some minimal site work last year to comply with an ADEQ deadline for the start of construction but the site has been dormant since then. They're probably having problems lining up financing in today's economy but, given that the price of natural gas has dropped in recent months, I'm hoping that the BOS will settle for a more reasonable 2 or 3 year extension. A five year extension would mean a plant designed in 2002 could be built 10 or more years later without substantial improvements in design or efficiency and that seems like a lot to ask. I'm pretty busy in Tucson at the moment and don't expect to inject myself into this debate, but I'm hoping someone takes it up, particularly as this extension proposal will probably get some support from Bowie residents."

Question from Diane Drobka:
"Do "we" have a spokesperson that represents us at the BoS meetings? Are you tracking meeting notices so that we know when they will discuss such things and can be certain to attend? What is our best course of action? Should we each write letters to the BoS stating our concerns about a plant being built using old technology, or would that imply that we are supportive of the plant if they upgrade it? I prefer no power plant as the best option but, if one is approved, it should at least be current technology."

Response from Mike Jackson:
"1, about having a spokesperson. I don't recall any one person getting out in front on this at BOS meetings. Of course, it's been a long time since it came up at a meeting. I don't recall how much organization there was at the September 2007 meeting. At least with this item not coming up till November 10, people have a couple of weeks to organize.

2, about tracking meeting notices. Yes, I track them, but it's all public information at sites like
http://www.co.cochise.az.us/ccwebsite/Calendar.asp
and
http://www.co.cochise.az.us/ccwebsite/PublicNotice.asp
but you have to watch both of those because info on one won't necessarily make it onto the other. However, those don't come out until late the week before a meeting, so they don't give you much lead time. For more lead time, you can check the notices at
http://www.co.cochise.az.us/ccwebsite/LegalNotices.asp
but remember that a lot of things that will happen at meetings don't get published in those notices.

And there's always the problem that "packets" the Planning Department has had ready for a month may still never be made available on the net at all, and even if you go to a meeting you may have to ask specially for a "packet."

Things are still set up way too much against the free flow of information. That's one thing CCIPRA has been working on, & there can never be too many citizens fighting that particular fight.

3, about best course of action. Whatever your opinion is on a particular issue, get out the word! Contacting your supervisor, then the other two, is always the best way to start, IMHO. Reader comments on news articles are good, too. Letters to the editor. Just plain coordinating with the community, getting attention and squawking so that public officials can't ignore you. At some point, you have to allocate your energies between fighting a particular abuse by gov, & fighting the gov structure that allows abuse after abuse.

I hope this doesn't sound too much like platitudes. Maybe Hedley has more specific local info. MJ"

Suggestion from Kim Vacaru, Western Director of the Wildlands Network (www.wildlandsnetwork.org):
"We could write a short letter to the BOS, get as many local residents to sign on as we can via email, and send it to BOS.
I'll write it up and circulate if that seems reasonable. Kim"

I'll post updates as they come in.

Things you can do to help promote solar power

2007-10-23T18:17:00.000-07:00

I got this list from Valerie Rauluk, who spoke at the CCIPRA meeting.

1. getting the word out that solar energy is a viable, cost effective option and offers economic opportunity for the community.

2. support elected officials who are actively engaged in bringing more clean energy alternatives to our communities.

3. encourage government, businesses and individuals to support clean energy funding mechanisms such as the renewable energy standard and tariff.

4. encourage government, businesses and individuals to include energy efficiency and clean energy generation in its operations.

Local Efforts in Solar Energy (and how you can help)

2007-10-20T09:38:00.000-07:00

Solar energy - At a recent combined meeting of CCIPRA and Voters For Rural Values, Valerie Rauluk and others spoke about alternative energy sources, especially solar. Valerie Rauluk is founder and CEO of Venture Catalyst (VeCat), a consulting firm which has secured over $3 million in federal funds to enhance the solar industry. [Email her at vajra@vecat-inc.com]

Valerie's message was simple: solar is coming, and its cost will drop. Solar is reliable, and well suited to Arizona's conditions. Already, from 1990 to 2005, the retail cost has dropped from $7.50 to $4 per watt. Valerie said the Arizona Corporation Commission's ‘Renewable Energy & Standard Tariff’ (REST) rules require utilities to generate 15% of their output from renewable sources by 2025. [see http://www.cc.state.az.us/divisions/utilities/electric/environmental.asp] Existing coal-fired plants won't go out of business, but people can work to see that few new ones are built. A homeowner can combine solar with power from the grid during peak use, or on cloudy days.

Valerie showed a 2x4' solar panel which produces 60 watts. For higher needs, panels are strung together. A system requires panels, a DC to AC inverter, etc. Banks are getting on board with funding, and financial assistance for homeowners is available through rebates and federal and state tax credits. Valerie estimated that a $9000 system might, after rebates and tax credits, cost a homeowner only $2000.

Jim Cooley, solar installer, showed slides of solar panels installed on a roof or on the ground. He said most people off the grid have a backup generator in case of several cloudy days. [Email Jim at progsolar@earthlink.net]

Wayne Crane of SSVEC explained the Sun Watts rebate program. SSVEC will give a rebate on the cost of installing solar, OR pay wholesale for solar power fed back to SSVEC. He agreed with an audience member that “a better deal for the homeowner might be appropriate.” [For more info see http://www.ssvec.org and http://littlebigdog.net/ccipra.htm,]

Dan Frey, from Gabrielle Giffords’ office, said that her Community Solar Energy Initiative advisory council identified three key areas for marketing solar power. Giffords plans to introduce a bill to renew tax credits for solar installation until 2020. [See http://www.giffordsforcongress.com]..

All speakers agree: tell officials that you support renewable energy.

Upcoming CCIPRA meeting

2007-09-25T08:42:00.000-07:00

CCIPRA is the Cochise County Individual and Property Rights Association PAC, and they have been very active in getting out information about the planned power plant. Now that the planners have reverted to their original idea to burn natural gas, there is still a concern that vast amounts of greenhouse gases will be released into the atmosphere.

At their next meeting, scheduled for 2pm Sunday Oct. 7th, CCIPRA has joined with Voters for Rural Values to invite Valerie Rauluk to talk about solar power. Valerie, who works for Sun-Edison, says that solar technology is advancing rapidly, and many excellent alternatives to power by combustion are becoming available.

Last October, the AZ Corporation Commission (ACC) approved Renewable Energy Standard and Tariff (REST) rules requiring utilities to derive an increasing amount of their electricity from renewable energy sources until they reach the level of 15% by 2025, and other states have enacted even more stringent rules.

For first-hand information about state requirements, visit the ACC website: http://www.cc.state.az.us Click on Hot Topics and then on Renewable Energy Standard and Tariff Rules.

Come to the Oct. 7th meeting, bring friends and questions, and learn about solar, a non-polluting alternative to coal and gas fueled plants.

Sunsites Community Center [Highway 191 to Sunsites, turn east on Treasure Rd, 1st bldg on left]. Voters for Rural Values and CCIPRA invited [for meeting info, contact hdjxn@vtc.net, 642-1760]

9/27 Update: Wayne Crane, PR Manager for Sulfur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative will also attend to discuss customer rebates for solar power conversion. There is more information about this program on their website: http://www.ssvec.org/programs/energySunWatts.php

Change in direction

2007-09-01T10:13:00.001-07:00

It appears SouthWestern Power Group is changing their plans for the Bowie Power Station.

We learned last Wednesday through public notice that the Cochise County Board of Supervisors will be holding a hearing on Sept. 18th to consider SWPG's request to "extend a deadline for construction of a natural gas electric generation plant which expires on September 24, 2007." The stated purpose of the extension is: "to provide sufficient time for adequate professional and technical review of the revised IGCC proposal, while retaining an active status for the originally approved natural gas facility."

However, just this morning we learned that SWPG issued a press release yesterday afternoon, in which they announced their plan that the Bowie Power Station "run solely on clean natural gas". This change "reverts the project back to the configuration as originally permitted by Cochise County and the Arizona regulators in 2002."

In the release, David Getts, General manage of SWPG, is quoted as saying: "While we continue to believe in the benefits of IGCC technology, we are enthusiastic about building an important project in Bowie and a clean-burning natural gas facility has the best chance of being permitted, constructed, and successful within a reasonable timeframe."

The release also says: "The project has already been granted a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility by the Arizona Corporation Commission, an air permit by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and a conditional use permit by Cochise County. The remaining regulatory requirements will be completed in early 2008 and construction will begin as soon as possible thereafter."

There is no information about this on the SWPG website (last news there on the Bowie Power Station project is dated in June 2006), and the Bowie Power Station site is under revision. All that appears there at this writing is "Please check back shortly. August 31, 2007."

Change in direction

2007-09-01T09:54:00.000-07:00

It appears SPG is changing direction.

Cochise County County Board of Supervisors announced last Wednesday that they will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 18 to consider SPG's request to extend the deadline for contructing a natural gas electric generation plant. That permit is set to expire September 24, 2007.

And then yesterday late afternoon, SPG issued a press release announcing their plan that the Bowie Power Station will run solely on "clean natural gas". And that this adjustment to their plans "reverts the project back to the configuration as originally permitted by Cochise County and the Arizona regulators in 2002".

In the release, David Getts, General Manager of SPG, is quoted as saying: "While we continue to believe in the benefits of IGCC technology, we are enthusiastic about building an important project in Bowie and a clean-burning natural gas facility has the best chance of being permitted, constructed, and successful within a reasonable timeframe."

The press release links to the the Bowie Power Plant website; however, as of this writing, content on that site has been replaced with: "Please check back shortly - August 31, 2007"

Our chances to speak out and to ask questions

2007-07-30T23:13:00.000-07:00

The Cochise County Board of Supervisors have set a few dates for public or open meetings to discuss the issue of whether Bowie should be the home of a coal gas-fired power plant. It's still not on their online calendar, but informed sources tell me that the following public meetings have been set up.

Mid-Sept. at time and location to be determined--work session to discuss the findings of the consultant–open to the public. (note: this date and the date of the following session have been pushed back by 3 weeks to allow the consultant time to review the case.)

Late Sept.—the regularly scheduled Supervisors' meeting will be held in Bowie or Willcox to make the final determination about this project—it will be open to public comment.

The Cochise County Individual And Property Rights Association (CCIPRA) is hosting two SWPG (Southwest Power Group) reps at their meeting on the 25th and they hope people will come and ask hard questions. Helene Jackson, the spokeswoman for the group, told me, "We'll squeeze people in if we have to. Last meeting, Sharon Thomas presented a PowerPoint on this kind of facility. When SWPG learned she would be here, they wanted to come to the same meeting and 'present SWPG's side.' In spite of their persistence through several emails, we convinced them to come to a different meeting. You can imagine what might have happened had they come to the July meeting!!" The August meeting time, place, directions: Sat. Aug. 25, 2 p.m. Jacksons' house: 4012 Davis Rd., McNeal, AZ 1/4 mile west of 191 on Davis, 3rd house past the school property. Click for map.

Ultimately, the Supervisors will decide whether or not SWPG gets rezoning - they need that before they can do anything else. Supervisors Searle and Newman seem to put great weight on what their constituents tell them, so it's critical that people contact one or both, although our supervisor (Searle) appears to have already decided to vote in favor.

While we're on the subject of the Board of Supervisors, I found an interesting write-up on the internet on how to approach the Cochise county offices to get things done. It's at http://littlebigdog.net/ccipra.htm, and it includes a description of the most recent meeting, where they hired the consultant to help sort out issues concerning the power plant.

The writer, said, "(Agenda) Item 17 was to "hire" a technical consultant for the Board as to the proposed Bowie Power Plant. The selection process... was lengthy and impartial... There was no discussion of the details of county supervision of the work, nor of public access to the report once it is finished.

David Getts, the project's general manager, told the Board that he welcomed the process, but he emphasized that the process might get into areas which the county had no role supervising. Getts did not seem to distinguish enough between the Board's voting to allow or prohibit a coal-burning power plant at all, and supervision of the plant once it is constructed. There may be some tension between the plant and the county on this point."

The same meeting was written up in the Arizona Range News by reporter Shar Porier at http://www.willcoxrangenews.com/articles/2007/07/25/news/news1.txt.

One thing that particularly caught my eye was this quote:
"The ADEW team (ie. the hired consultant) also will assess ... the effects of carbon dioxide on the environment.

"They will review the application of SouthWestern Power Group II and look at state and county guidelines," Vlahovich noted. "They will also look at the carbon sequestration technology and determine what levels could be reasonably achieved."

That last part did not sit well with David Getts, general manager of SouthWestern Power Group II, though the company has been supportive of the technical advisor. Currently, there are no federal standards for carbon dioxide emissions, he pointed out.

"I have concerns with this scope of this specific review, if that indicates a part on the county to regulate air quality," Getts told the supervisors. "That's the job of state and federal agencies."

Searle replied, "I have no intention of taking jurisdiction over air quality, but I do want to look at it properly, however."

Local power production company has a much better solution

2007-07-28T14:12:00.000-07:00

An interested Bowie resident forwarded me the URL for this website: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/07/colossal_magnet.php. It's a local Cochise county company in Sierra Vista that is developing maglev wind turbine power generators. It's a great idea, a big improvement over standard windmills, using technology that has been tested and used successfully in Asia for many years. It can generate more electricity in less than 100 acres than conventional windmills can generate in 64,000 acres, and without polluting.

From their website:
The Maglev Wind Turbine Power Plant contributes to the reduction of pollution by eliminating our dependency of fossil fueled power plants. Since carbon dioxide is absorbed by trees, our Maglev Wind Turbine Power Plant can offset as much as 1,750,000 acres of forest. Another analogy used, is to equate the energy generated by our Power Plant to the amount generated by a barrel of oil. Maglev Wind Turbine Power Plant can generate the same amount of energy annually as 5,475,000 barrels of oil.

MAGLEV WIND TURBINE will offset emissions (pollution) from other regional sources of electricity. If we do not install our Power Plant and generate approximately 8.75 TWh of renewable energy annually, the same amount of energy generated from oil, coal or natural gas would create the following estimated emissions :

8.7 Billion pounds of Carbon Dioxide
18,000,000 pounds of Nitrogen Oxides
50,400,000 pounds of Sulfur Dioxide

* Based on location and wind velocity estimates

Data Source for Emissions Calculated: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Emissions & Generation Resource Integrated Database http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/egrid/pdfs/state.pdf

Some sort of response from the power company

2007-07-28T13:24:00.000-07:00

In response to my follow-up request, the Southwest Power rep. sent me this email. He still hasn't said where he actually will be, but if he does, I'll post it here. Maybe we can ask him why he can't answer any of our questions in writing.

Date: July 25, 2007 11:23:11 AM PDT
Subject: RE: Bowie Inquiry

Dear Ms. van der Pas,

I travel to Bowie and various parts of Cochise County several times a month. My next scheduled visit in Bowie is set for the morning of August 13th. I am available, should you want to meet and discuss our project.

Respectfully,
R. Martin Bailey
Real Estate Manager
Southwestern Power Group
3610 N 44th Street, Suite 250
Phoenix, AZ 85018
Office 602-808-2004
Fax 602-808-2099

More on pollution--is it really possible to control it?

2007-07-16T19:55:00.000-07:00

A nice lady in Willcox emailed to let me know about a website that answers a lot of my questions about coal gasification. It is http://www.energyjustice.net/coal/igcc/.

These are the pollutants that you get from coal:
sulfur dioxides (SOx, or acid rain)
carbon dioxide (CO2) (the major source of global warming)
mercury (one of the most toxic substances known)
nitrogen oxides (NOx) (creates permanent lung damage, among other things)
plus some others like arsenic and selenium, which go into the air.

What they want to build in Bowie is a plant that uses IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle). This is a system that gasifies coal into synthetic gas (syngas) to power a gas turbine. The heat from the gas turbine exhaust then generates steam to run a steam turbine. They say that process will make it possible to capture much of the pollutants before they are released into the air.

A large coal-fired power plant like this one emits the CO2 equivalent from one million SUVs. Coal-fired electrical generation has been the largest single source of pollution in the U.S. (and the world) for over 30 years. They say that they can capture and recycle the CO2, but there are no concrete plans to do so, and there are no currently operating plants that have succeeded in doing this.

This website quotes testimony from an IGCC veteran Stephen D. Jenkins, dated January 2007 to the Florida Public Service Commission. Steve Jenkins, who has over 30 years of experience in the power industry, including IGCC power plants, gave an in-depth analysis of the IGCC technology for CO2 capture and sequestration.

"IGCC is not inherently CO2 capture ready without significant additions, modifications and impacts to its efficiency and output. I have heard many people apply the term 'CO2 capture ready' to IGCC without really inderstanding what is involved, both technically and financially, to implement these significant changes. Just because people call it CO2 capture ready does not mean that it is."

The entire report, which describes the IGCC technology in some detail, is available at:
http://www.mncoalgasplant.com/stevejenkins-fgpp-psctestimony.pdf

What Southwest Power has to say

2007-07-11T06:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I sent the following email to Jessica Munoz, the contact person indicated on the Bowie Power Station's website.

Dear SouthWest Power,

I live in Bowie, and I have some questions I hope you can answer. I know lots of people here are really excited about the possibility of community revival due to the power plant you are building. On your website and in your publicity you do make it sound like a good thing. Still we all know that plants like this are notorious polluters of air and water, and can destroy the living standards of a community, so I don't believe that our community should rush headlong into agreement without determining the facts. And on a larger scale, there's the much more serious damage to the atmosphere from creating so much CO2, especially at a time when governments all over the world are trying create legislation to cut down CO2 emissions.

In discussion with some of my neighbors, we found that we still have some questions that have not yet been answered, and we were hoping you could help us out.

1) What are the actual benefits to the community and are these spelled out somewhere? Will there be any new jobs for Bowie residents? What kinds of jobs will be available?

2) You have stated that there is a plan to recycle the CO2 emissions by growing tomatoes. Are there any firm plans to do this or is it still speculative? Will these plans be be implemented before operations begin?

3) On your website you say that you will be releasing 3.6 million tons of CO2 annually and we are very concerned about global warming. It seems unrealistic to expect that you can dispose of that immense amount by growing tomatoes. Can you give us the actual figures for what percentage of the CO2 you will definitely be able to recycle and how much will go into the atmosphere to contribute to global warming?

4) Are there buyers already arranged for the ash, slag, mercury, and sulfur, etc? What will you do with these by-products if the buyer drops out?

5) Are there any statistics on the safety of storing mercury in railroad cars? What if they leak? It is our understanding that mercury is toxic in parts per million--what about the residue that will remain after the railroad cars have been emptied?

6) Have you done an environmental impact report, and is it available for public review? What are the Arizona state and federal regulations concerning monitoring your EPA and safety standards? In other words, how often is the plant being tested for compliance with environmental and safety standards? And who conducts those inspections?

7) Is the trucking route for transport of toxic by-products to the railroad going to be made public in case the public thinks the route is too close to schools, homes, wells, etc.?

8) It was stated by you that your presence in Bowie would bring about "spinoff businesses, services, and industries", and these would be very welcome by Bowie residents. We are concerned though that only outsiders would have the means to do this in a realistic way. Would you be open to creating a loan office to help the local residents with small loans they can use to start these spinoff industries? It would be a very real way of helping the community, it would create goodwill, and it would not cost anything in the long run.

Thank you for your consideration and we hope to hear from you soon.

With best wishes,
Elizabeth van der Pas

July 13--I got a response from Martin Bailey:

Dear Ms. van der Pas:
Thank you for your recent inquiry about the Bowie Power Station. I would invite you to review the various articles at the BowiePower.com website for more details about our facility. I am usually in the Bowie community very two weeks, so if you would like to meet and discuss our project I would pleased to meet with you. My email address is mbailey@southwesternpower.com

Respectfully,

R. Martin Bailey
Real Estate Manager
Southwestern Power Group
3610 N 44th Street, Suite 250
Phoenix, AZ 85018
Office 602-808-2004
Fax 602-808-2099

cc: David Getts (DGetts@southwesternpower.com), and Tom Wray (TWray@southwesternpower.com)

More information

2007-07-10T08:51:00.000-07:00

I emailed the reporter who wrote the article that was quoted on the Bowie Power website, and got a response right away. I hadn't heard about it, but the power company hosted a barbecue for Bowie residents on Saturday, and talked about the benefits of having a power plant in the neighborhood. Here's the link to the article:
Sierra Vista Herald July 9, 2007

It looks as if people here feel that it will bring in revenue to revitalize Bowie, and so there's a lot of support. But still the power company doesn't really have a clear plan for disposing of the by-products, and the board of supervisors is still undecided.

But maybe it doesn't have to be all or nothing. It might be better for us to try to work with the power company to create plans that we all feel comfortable with for an ecological and clean operation, because the problem won't be solved by pushing the company out to pollute somewhere else. And part of my thinking in all of this is that even if it does go through, the karma of the effort to help create a clean environment will help create that very result.

It seems that the input of Bowie residents will make a difference to the board of supervisors. One of them has already responded to me, and I think the others are open to hearing from the locals. So please do email them.

Cochise County Board of Supervisors
1415 West Melody Lane Bldg. B
Bisbee, AZ 85603
Phone: (520) 432-9200
Fax: (520) 432-5016

Supervisors:
Pat Call: pcall@co.cochise.az.us
Paul Newman: pnewman@co.cochise.az.us
Richard Searle: rsearle@co.cochise.az.us

Cochise County Planning and Zoning department, c/o Susan Buchan
1415 Melody Lane, Building E.
Bisbee, Arizona 85603

Email: pnz@co.cochise.az.us
Phone (520)432-9240
Fax (520)432-9278

The issue--an introduction

2007-07-10T08:28:00.000-07:00

We've been hearing for a long time that a company called SouthWest Power is planning to build a 600-megawatt power plant 2 miles from the center of our town of Bowie. Maybe won't be a problem at all, but the idea makes me nervous, and so I thought I'd ask around to see what I can find out, what the impact will be on the community and the environment, and what we can do about it, if it does seem that it might be a problem. It got to be a lot of information--too much to organize by email, so I'm going to put whatever I come up with in this blog. This post is my original email to friends, soliciting help and information, which I sent out a couple of days ago. Since then I have got more information, which I will post next.

Their website is www.bowiepower.com, and I am getting most of my information from that. There are a lot of pictures and charts, etc. It might be slanted, but even what they say in their own favor alarms me enough.

They say they are planning to use a "cleaner" process that produces gases from pulverized coal and then uses that as fuel to create steam. They mention two other power plants that use this process, each of which generates only 250 megawatts (which is less than half the size of the one proposed for Bowie). They say they are cleaner than normal coal-burning plants, so I looked them up on Google. There is a website that talks about these plants. One is in a swamp in Florida (not 2 miles from the center of a town like Bowie). They say that this plant emits 85% fewer nitrogen oxides (which they say create acid rain, ozone, and a toxic gas that can sear lung tissue and create permanent damage) than a typical plant. So if you do the math, it works out that the Bowie plant will emit more than a third of the amount of a normal coal-burning plant.

The same article says that the "clean" Florida plant emits 20 times more nitrogen oxide than a plant that burns natural gas, which is what they were originally planning to use as a fuel in Bowie before they decided to use coal. So according to my math, this would mean that the "clean" Bowie plant will emit 48 times the amount of nitrogen oxide as a natural gas plant. Which is not to say that we want a natural gas plant either.

The same website also says that even with the cleanest technologies, a coal-burning plant poses more of a global warming problem than a plant using natural gas or oil.

They power plant's website says that they are planning to use sub-bituminous coal as fuel. They say there are four kinds of coal, and this is the second-worst kind of coal in terms of CO2, mercury, arsenic and mercury emissions. That doesn't sound good to me. They say the different kinds of coals can have other elements as well, some toxic. They plan to have evaporation ponds to isolate the toxic slag, which they hope to sell for road construction (although they don't have any buyers yet). Plans are in the works to modify the existing aquifer protection permit as required.

The Bowie website says that our plant will produce 3.6 million tons of CO2 per year. For comparison, an average mid-sized car creates 3.55 tons per year, so this plant will produce about as much CO2 as a million cars. This is the main gas that is creating global warming. SouthWest Power's website says that they are thinking of getting someone to build a greenhouse to use some of it, but it's in the maybe stage. They are talking about maybe being able to capture most of it, but don't seem to to have any firm plans to actually do it.

Cochise county is already ranked among the worst 10% of all counties in terms of non-cancer risking air pollution (whatever that is). Most of this comes from our other power plant, Apache Generating Station, which is a 520 megawatt power station southeast of Tucson.

The population of Bowie is more than 25% children aged 19 and under. Compared with Arizona in general (13%), Bowie also has a disproportionate number of people over the age of 65: (18.8%). These two populations are the most susceptible to damage from air pollution. And just for the record, the median household income is $52,232, compared to the Arizona median of $185,400. So these are mostly people who can't afford a lot of options.

There are more scary things in the website, but you get the idea.

The county supervisors met about it in April and haven't decided yet, and they are planning to have another meeting in Bowie or Willcox so people in the community can come. There's a good description of the meeting on this website.