Opposition takes on coal plants

[jpak]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-10-29-coal-plants_N.htm

BLAKELY, Ga. — Sammy Prim says he always thought environmentalists were "a little bit nutty."

Then a New Jersey-based utility, LS Power, decided to build a $2 billion coal-fired power plant here, just a few miles across the Chattahoochee River from his rural Alabama home. If built, it could emit up to 9 million tons of carbon dioxide, the primary gas blamed for global warming, every year.

"I've been a Republican my whole life, but I'll be doggoned if Al Gore isn't right," says Prim, 64, a retired radiologist. "Is it fair for you and me — this generation — to pollute for all the generations to come when we're already seeing the effects — global warming, mercury, particulate matter?"

So Prim joined Friends of the Chattahoochee, a local group opposed since 2001 to the plant, now a joint venture of LS Power and the Texas-based utility Dynegy. The group is appealing the plant's state-approved air permit, arguing it would allow emissions to exceed standards while pumping out mercury, soot and greenhouse gases.

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