Opposition to power plant After Action Report
IUC public meeting in Davenport
Concerned Citizens of Scott County
Members of the PACG Environmental Forum have been attending meetings and support this group in their opposition to the Natural Gas Power Plant proposed for Scott County. The following is an update on the meeting.
On Monday, April 6th , the Iowa Utilities Commission (IUC) held a public informational meeting on the Central Iowa Power Cooperative (CIPCO) application to build a 240 megawatt peaker natural gas plant just outside Maysville in Scott County’s Hickory Grove Township. Peaker plants are designed to fill in when energy capacity is strained. PACG’s Environmental Forum has been attending meetings of the Scott County Board of Supervisors (BOS), those of the Concerned Citizens of Scott County, a group opposed to this plant, as well as this IUC meeting.
This proposal would place the plant on land zoned for agricultural preservation, and the BOS voted unanimously to deny the permit for the plant to proceed after considerable opposition. CIPCO then asked the IUC to overrule this denial. Approximately 135 people attended the IUC hearing, with comments that were both pro and con. Most of the comments in favor of the plant were about job growth, even though these plants typically employ only 6-7 staff. Local citizens expressed concerns about use of this highly rated agricultural land for industrial purposes They also questioned why CIPSO has an option to acquire 90 acres when the plant would only use about 30, leading to questions about the potential for expansion in the future. A
local firefighter expressed concerns about the potential for “incidents” and the fact that nearby fire departments are staffed by volunteers with inadequate equipment to manage an “incident”. They also failed to report that the closest school is John Glenn, which is within 3 miles of the plant, instead reporting that the closest schools are in Eldridge, about 5 miles away. Some residents expressed concerns about decreased property values after the plant is built.
Other concerns were noted about pollution. CIPCO staff showed graphs that predict minimal levels of pollution. However, one PACG member researched this and found that their modeling was based on 15-year-old data. Current data show that peaker plants emit considerably more pollutants than regular natural gas plants because they come on and off-line intermittently. According to the American Lung Association, the Quad Cities air ranks poorly, 43 rd worse in the nation, especially for particulates, which these plants produce. To learn more, we recommend reading the report from Jonathan Turner on the WVIK website. If you’d like to express your opinion to the IUC you can access their website (https://iuc.iowa.gov), on the docket titled:
Generating Certificate – Scott County, IA, # GCU-2026-0001).
Lori McCollum
Members of the PACG Environmental Forum have been attending meetings and support this group in their opposition to the Natural Gas Power Plant proposed for Scott County. The following is an update on the meeting.
On Monday, April 6th , the Iowa Utilities Commission (IUC) held a public informational meeting on the Central Iowa Power Cooperative (CIPCO) application to build a 240 megawatt peaker natural gas plant just outside Maysville in Scott County’s Hickory Grove Township. Peaker plants are designed to fill in when energy capacity is strained. PACG’s Environmental Forum has been attending meetings of the Scott County Board of Supervisors (BOS), those of the Concerned Citizens of Scott County, a group opposed to this plant, as well as this IUC meeting.
This proposal would place the plant on land zoned for agricultural preservation, and the BOS voted unanimously to deny the permit for the plant to proceed after considerable opposition. CIPCO then asked the IUC to overrule this denial. Approximately 135 people attended the IUC hearing, with comments that were both pro and con. Most of the comments in favor of the plant were about job growth, even though these plants typically employ only 6-7 staff. Local citizens expressed concerns about use of this highly rated agricultural land for industrial purposes They also questioned why CIPSO has an option to acquire 90 acres when the plant would only use about 30, leading to questions about the potential for expansion in the future. A
local firefighter expressed concerns about the potential for “incidents” and the fact that nearby fire departments are staffed by volunteers with inadequate equipment to manage an “incident”. They also failed to report that the closest school is John Glenn, which is within 3 miles of the plant, instead reporting that the closest schools are in Eldridge, about 5 miles away. Some residents expressed concerns about decreased property values after the plant is built.
Other concerns were noted about pollution. CIPCO staff showed graphs that predict minimal levels of pollution. However, one PACG member researched this and found that their modeling was based on 15-year-old data. Current data show that peaker plants emit considerably more pollutants than regular natural gas plants because they come on and off-line intermittently. According to the American Lung Association, the Quad Cities air ranks poorly, 43 rd worse in the nation, especially for particulates, which these plants produce. To learn more, we recommend reading the report from Jonathan Turner on the WVIK website. If you’d like to express your opinion to the IUC you can access their website (https://iuc.iowa.gov), on the docket titled:
Generating Certificate – Scott County, IA, # GCU-2026-0001).
Lori McCollum
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