POWER STRUGGLE: CAPE GIRARDEAU NATIVE RICHARD KINDER FACES ROADBLOCKS TO BUILDING A PLANT IN HIS HOME COUNTY

CRUMP, Mo. -- Nora Seabaugh stands on her driveway and casts a troubled glance at an adjoining hillside of upturned earth where Kinder Morgan Power Co. wants to build a plant.

She and her husband, Alvin, have lived in their modest brick home on a ridge along Route U in southwest Cape Girardeau County for 35 years. They own about 200 acres of farm land, planted in soybeans, along both sides of the highway.

The 80-year-old Alvin moves slowly these days, the victim of a stroke. But he's clear about one thing. He and his wife don't want to live out their years in the shadow of a power plant.

"I'd rather not be a neighbor to them," said Alvin Seabaugh, who would rather sell his land if the $250 million, 550-megawatt plant goes up next to his farm south of Crump. He calls the whole project a "sneaky deal."

The Lakewood, Colo., power company has an option to buy 120 acres of ground along Route U. The plant itself, a collection of natural-gas powered and steam turbines, would cover 22 acres near a substation and transmission lines owned by AmerenUE.

The plant would sell power to a Tulsa, Okla., firm, which would in turn sell it to other utilities with the electricity wheeled through the AmerenUE substation and transmission lines. Kinder Morgan says it focused on this site because of the electric tranmission lines and the close proximity to a natural gas pumping station in Marble Hill.

Two 1,600-foot wells have been dug and a third is planned to provide the massive amounts of water needed to cool the plant and provide steam to generate electricity.

Sinkhole develops

The Seabaughs suspect the wells are to blame for a massive sinkhole that has developed in the middle of one of their soybean fields across the road and down a hill from their home.

The hole is nearly 30 feet across and close to 18 feet deep, big enough to swallow a tractor or two in-ground swimming pools.

The Seabaughs say the sinkhole appeared in mid-May after the wells were dug on adjacent land. Kinder Morgan responded by putting a barbed-wire fence around the sink hole to keep the curious away.

Kinder Morgan executives say there's no evidence the wells caused the hole. But Missouri Department of Natural Resources officials say the wells could be to blame.

Even if that's the case, the state has no power to force the company to fill in the sinkhole, DNR officials said.

If the new pumps caused the sinkhole, the problem could get worse. Jim Vandike, chief of DNR's ground water section, said the proposed plant would need 2,800 gallons of water a minute. In May, Kinder Morgan consultants tested one of the new ells, pumping out 1,000 gallons a minute for 72 hours.

The pumping dropped the water level in a neighbor's well by 6 feet and in the second Kinder Morgan well by 9 feet, Vandike said.

That concerns farmers like Ira Avery, who lives about a half a mile from the proposed plant. He worries that the plant would draw down the water table. Avery said he and other farmers might have to dig deeper wells to have a steady supply of water.

"It's going to affect everyone around here," said Avery.

But Vandike said there's enough water underground to meet the needs of the plant and farmers too. The plant, he said, won't operate around the clock, so it won't be drawing water constantly, he said.

A plant fan

J.F. Williams Jr. isn't worried about the water table or possible air pollution. A neighbor of the Seabaughs, Williams has lived in the area since 1943.

He said the plant would bring added tax dollars and jobs to the county, more money to the Delta School District and boost the economy.

"Why do you want to fight progress?" he asked. "It is an ideal place for it."

The county's industrial recruiter, Mitch Robinson, said he and others in the Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Recruitment Association had to weigh neighbors' feelings against the potential economic windfall.

The plant will mean more than 200 temporary construction jobs, he said, and 25 permanent jobs.

"With the energy crisis, we could see the benefit of having this for local business," Robinson said. "Missouri has already permitted 17 plants. This is going to happen. The question is whether it will be in our county or in a neighboring county or in a neighboring state."

The county commission is offering to sell bonds to finance the project and give tax breaks. Kinder Morgan would make payments in lieu of taxes to Delta School District.

Economic benefits or no, the Seabaughs insist they don't want the plant as a neighbor. But they say there's little they can do to keep it out.

That's not the case with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Officials there say they won't permit Kinder Morgan to build the plant without changes to lower the potential for air pollution, something that company executives have so far resisted.

DNR officials in Jefferson City don't want the plant to spew out nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide emissions which can cause smog.

They insist the company must agree to install equipment to restrict such emissions, reduce the number of hours it would operate or go to a different type of generating system.

Richard Kinder, a Cape Girardeau native and founder of the Kinder Morgan parent company based in Houston, said the Cape Girardeau plant is one of seven that the firm plans to build around the country.

Several other states already have approved similar plants, Kinder said. Plants are under construction in Jackson, Mich., and near Little Rock, Ark. They are scheduled to begin operating in 2002.

"We have just been through all this and had no problem with this issue in other states," Kinder said. "We were very surprised to hit this problem in the state of Missouri."

Emissions trouble

But DNR spokeswoman Connie Patterson said Kinder Morgan has run into the same emissions problems in at least two other states. Both Illinois and Kansas recently rejected Kinder Morgan power plant applications because of air pollution concerns, she said.

The Arkansas power plant likely couldn't be built today without adding emissions controls, she said.

Adding emissions control equipment to the proposed Cape Girardeau plant could cost millions of dollars, Kinder said.

Such costs would make the project unworkable, he said. Kinder Morgan has an agreement to sell electricity to Williams Co. of Tulsa, Okla. "We have set tariffs. We know what we can charge and what Williams is prepared to pay for electricity.

"If we have an add-on of any sizable amount, we can't pass it through," said Kinder.

DNR officials say they understand the cost issue, but can't ignore environmental issues. "It is our job to protect the air quality," Patterson said.

Kinder Morgan has retained a lawyer and is considering appealing DNR's decision.