Tapping the river

A Massachusetts company wants to capitalize on the Mississippi River's energy.

Free Flow Power Corp. of Manchester, Mass., applied for 59 permits to install 160,000 turbines in the river from St. Louis to Louisiana, including nine in Southeast Missouri and three in Cape Girardeau County.

On the surface, this idea seems too good to be true. Using turbines in the bottom of the river to produce electricity without burning fossil fuels is a wonderful idea.

But the company will have to jump through a lot of governmental hoops. The company will have to satisfy requirements from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as well as the Corps of Engineers. If the company gets approval, it will have to produce a lot of electricity to get a return on its $3 billion investment.

Is it feasible? Can it be profitable? If so, the innovative company deserves all the success it reaps.