New plants put King Coal in the cross hairs in Iowa

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071107/NEWS/711070383/1001/MARKETPLACE

Proposed coal-fired power plants near Waterloo and in Marshalltown are keeping the debate over global warming burning in Iowa.

Environmentalists, NASA's chief climate scientist, industry experts and citizens are lining up to testify about the coal-burning plants, which could affect Iowans' lungs, power bills, fish-eating habits and ability to find jobs.

The debate over whether to build the two Iowa plants is part of a national argument as utilities and a new breed of so-called "merchant generators" have plans for 150 new coal-fired plants.

States as different as Kansas, California, Idaho and Florida have blocked new coal-fired plants. Even Texas forced its biggest utility to pare down a proposal for 11 new coal plants to three.

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Nuclear would provide all of Iowa with cheap energy, and be far less harmful or risky than dumping millions of tons of sulfur dioxide and CO₂ into the atmosphere.

But we've been over that. ;-)