LETTERS: POWER PLANT RAISES SERIOUS, COSTLY CONCERNS

To the editor:

A brief cost-benefit analysis of the proposed local power generation plant raises questions. Apparently the benefit locally would be a couple of hundred short-term construction jobs and a couple of dozen long-term plant operation jobs. But how many of these would be local personnel as opposed to imports is unclear. Since the power generated is slated for export to Oklahoma, there s no local power benefit.

Meanwhile, the cost would include annual production of some 500 tons of emissions as oxides of nitrogen and carbon that would presumably be carried to Jackson and Cape Girardeau in the prevailing southwesterly winds. There is already evidence of potential land subsidence risks and threats to the local water table. Furthermore, the loss of valuable agricultural land to promote the cause of urban sprawl is not only a local, but also a regional and national cost.

We also learn that state Sen. Peter Kinder is attempting to circumvent environmental regulations to allow Kinder Morgan Power Co. to proceed with construction untrammeled by standard environmental regulations. The least we should expect from the Department of Natural Resources is to require an environmental assessment so that a reasoned judgment can be made. Is the project an attempt to take advantage of potential energy deregulation to make money by generating power in Southeast Missouri while exporting the energy out of state? In this scenario, we pay the environmental costs, while Oklahoma and Kinder Morgan reap the benefits.

ALAN R.P. JOURNET

Cape Girardeau