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Beebe: Coal power not going away tomorrow Thursday, Jun 5, 2008 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Gov. Mike Beebe said Wednesday he is working to attract more alternative-energy businesses to Arkansas, but he said coal power cannot be done away with immediately. Speaking to the Arkansas Audubon Society, one of several environmental groups opposing a proposed coal-fired power plant in Hempstead County, Beebe said the alternatives are not in place to replace coal power completely. "You're not going to do away, as much as you want to, with coal tomorrow. It's not going to happen, people," he said. Beebe said he is seeking to attract more businesses like windmill blade manufacturer LM Glasfiber, which decided last year to locate its North American headquarters in Little Rock. The state lured the company with an income tax exemption until 2033, $8 million in economic infrastructure funds, $8.9 million from the governor's quick-action closing fund and up to $3,500 in training per employee. "We are negotiating with a number of different companies that are in clean energy fields, whether it be in solar or whether it be in wind energy, and certainly we're negotiating with companies and have already put some of your tax dollars to work with alternative, sustainable, renewable biomass motor fuels," the governor said. Beebe said America no longer can be dependent on foreign oil and "dirty coal," but coal power now accounts for well over half of the nation's electricity production and is not going away overnight. "If it's not going to happen tomorrow, because you don't have the alternatives in place to totally substitute yet for coal, we'd better figure out the best ways to clean it up as much as we can clean it up and make it as environmentally friendly as we can," he said. Southwestern Electric Power Co. received approval last year from the state Public Service Commission to build a $1.3 billion, 600-megawatt coal-fired plant near Fulton. The company now is seeking an air quality permit from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality. Landowners and hunting clubs in the area have asked the state Court of Appeals to overturn the PSC's ruling on the plant, which they say will harm the local environment. At a PSC hearing in August, state Audubon Society Director Ken Smith said at least 25 rare and vulnerable species of bird occupy a habitat adjacent to the site and would be threatened by the plant. Supporters of the plant say it would benefit the economy by generating $38 million annually in sales tax revenue and creating 110 full-time jobs. Beebe told reporters Wednesday that if the plant is built, "it needs to have any and all safeguards necessary to clean it up as much as it can be cleaned up." Making sure the plant is as clean as possible is "part of what ADEQ is working on," he said. |
