$250 MILLION POWER PLANT IN THE WORKS

CRUMP, Mo. -- A 550-megawatt power plant may be built in the rolling farmland of southwest Cape Girardeau County, fueled by possible tax breaks and the nation's ever-growing demand for electricity.

Kinder Morgan Power Co. of Lakewood, Colo., wants to build the plant along Route U south of Crump and north of the Route A junction.

The Cape Girardeau County Commission is considering issuing bonds to finance the $250 million project. The county technically would own the land and the plant while the company paid off the bonds over 10 to 20 years, said Mitch Robinson, who has been involved in discussions as executive director of the Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Recruitment Association.

"There is no financial liability for the county," he said.

As part of the financing, Kinder Morgan would receive tax breaks on the real estate and/or plant equipment while the bonds are being retired. The company would make payments to the Delta School District in lieu of taxes.

Robinson said the annual payments likely would be "in the low six figures."

The plant would use AmerenUE transmission lines and sell electricity to other utilities nationwide.

Digging wells

Kinder Morgan has an option to buy 120 acres of ground, seven acres on the east side of Route U and 113 acres on the west side. Two 1,600-foot-deep wells already have been dug and a third is planned. The water would be used for cooling and steam generation.

The power company is part of Kinder Morgan Inc., a Houston-based energy company started by Cape Girardeau native Richard Kinder, who serves as the firm's chairman of the board and CEO. The parent company's operations include more than 30,000 miles of natural gas and product pipelines across the nation.

Kinder Morgan has yet to give a final OK to the project or obtain the necessary environmental permits from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. The deal with the county hinges on DNR approval. A public hearing is required before permits are issued, but no date has been set.

DNR officials in the Division of Environmental Quality couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday.

But John Gibson, director of site development for Kinder Morgan Power Co., said groundbreaking could occur in September if all goes right. Construction could take 22 months. "We would like to have it on line by May of 2003," Gibson said.

The sparsely populated site was chosen because it is near an AmerenUE substation and electric transmission lines, and not far from a natural gas pumping station at Marble Hill, Mo. If the project proceeds, Kinder Morgan would build a natural gas pipeline from the Marble Hill station operated by Natural Gas Pipeline Co., a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan.

Several other companies also have options on land in that area and are looking at putting in power plants. But Robinson said the limited capacity of the transmission lines and the substation likely would prevent a proliferation of power plants.

First District County Commissioner Larry Bock said the proposed financing is the same method used to finance improvements at the Nordenia and Procter & Gamble plants in the county.

"This would be good for the county and good for the school district," he said. "This will be good for everybody concerned, if it all works out."

Gibson said the project could provide more than 200 construction jobs. The construction work could pump $20 million into the local economy, he said.

The plant, which would operate with about 25 employees, would result in economic dividends of $4 million a year for the area, Gibson said.

The plant's seven combustion and two steam turbines would generate power when there was an increased demand for electricity, operating a maximum of 16 hours a day. The generators would run from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. The plant typically would be in operation less than seven days a week, he said.

The plant would operate for about 5,000 hours annually, about twice the hours of plants that generate electricity only at times of peak demand, Gibson said.

Unhappy neighbors

The plant itself would sit on 22 acres bordering Alvin and Nora Seabaugh's farm.

Nora Seabaugh said she and her husband don't want a power plant for a neighbor. "I think it would lower the value of the ground around here. I don't think anybody would like to live next to a plant like that," she said.

Seabaugh said a sinkhole developed in their soybean field last month after the two wells were dug. The sinkhole is about 25 feet in diameter and 17 feet deep.

The Seabaughs suspect the wells are to blame. "We have been here 35 years. We've never had a sinkhole," Nora Seabaugh said.

The state geologist's office is investigating the matter. State Geologist Mimi Garstang said the well drilling may have triggered the sinkhole. Gibson disagrees.

Jim Vandike, chief of the groundwater section for the DNR, said it appears the wells were constructed properly. The closest is about 1,000 feet from the sinkhole. The farthest is about 1,500 to 1,600 feet from the hole, he said.