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Last year, plans for a similar FPL facility were unanimously rejected by the St. Lucie County Commission, largely because of pollution issues. Glades County commissioners are much more enthusiastic, anticipating 300 new jobs and a $21 million boost in property-tax revenues.
Using pulverized coal is one of the dirtiest ways to produce electricity, and a major source of the greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide, that cause global warming. FPL says that Glades Power Park will be one of the nation's cleanest-burning facilities, equipped with advanced devices that will keep the pollution output substantially below state and federal limits. That's nice to hear, but it's also worth remembering that every utility in the United States makes basically the same righteous promise whenever it's seeking approval for a new plant. This is not an industry with unassailable credibility.
Glades Power Park would be built on 5,000 acres of what is now sugar-cane fields near Moore Haven. There would be two 980-megawatt units, the first of which would go online in 2012. FPL says the plant would ultimately supply electricity to about 650,000 homes throughout South Florida.
Critics acknowledge that Glades Power Park would run cleaner than many existing plants, but they also point out that - according to FPL's own estimates - the stacks would belch as much as 14 million tons of carbon dioxide into the air every year. No less disturbing is the projected mercury output of 180 pounds annually, or about seven times as much as what is produced by a larger power plant in Martin County.
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http://www.ocala.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070221/OPINION/202210304/1030/OPINION