http://twincities.indymedia.org/2009/nov/big-stone-ii-coal-plant-finally-deadThe last remaining partners in the construction of the Big Stone II coal-fired power plant announced yesterday that they would not continue the project. They proposed a 500 to 600 megawatt expansion of an existing coal burning power plant located near Milbank, South Dakota. The expansion would have been built on the shores of Big Stone Lake, headwaters to the Minnesota River, near the Minnesota border.
“We are excited to see that the economic realities have finally been acknowledged,” said Darrell Gerber, Clean Water Action Program Coordinator. “Not only was this project bad for public health, the Minnesota River and the environment it would have been bad for the pocketbook of many rural communities.”
Partners in the $1.6 billion project were left scrambling to find investors after the project lead, Otter Tail Power, withdrew in September. This was preceded by the withdrawal of Great River Energy last year. The remaining partners, Montana-Dakota Utilities, Company Central Minnesota Municipal Power Agency, Heartland Consumers Power District and Missouri River Energy Services, announced yesterday the closure of the project.
“We've worked for years to show the real costs of coal. This type of project produces dirty power that would have distracted us from the Midwest’s real strength – clean, renewable energy sources like wind. Big Stone II would have been like adding a half million more cars worth of global warming pollution, while contributing to asthma and other health impacts on people downwind from the plant.” said Gerber.
The Big Stone II project had received approval from regulators in South Dakota and Minnesota but numerous challenges to the permits were still active. Clean Water Action joined with Sierra Club to challenge the air permit issued by the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
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