Dabakis Addresses the Power

by Michael Orton
Video licensed through ImageProviders
©2011 All Rights Reserved

SALT LAKE CITY –

It became a rhetorical contest by two smiling cobras determined to advance the interests of the people of Utah. One was the president of the Utah state senate, the other the chairman of the state's democratic party. At the end of the day, most declared it all a stalemate.


During the most recent meeting of the Utah redistricting committee, state democratic party chairman Jim Dabakis charged republicans with doing the public's business behind closed doors and said that when this has occured in other states, "democrats have walked out, stopping the process." He added, "That can't happen here." While democrats on the redistricting committee were quick to acknowledge the cooperative efforts of their republican colleagues, Dabakis asked that there be "no more closed meetings where maps are bickered over and fought over internally. It doesn't do the state any good; it doesn't do the citizens any good." He said that to have the entire redistricting process reduced to backroom negotiations in one night by a dominant political party, "is 'sausage making,' but it's the public's sausage," referring to the often distasteful and divisive aspects of public policy efforts by various party leaders.

Because of additional and shifting census information, every ten years the nation's representation in congress must be reconsidered. This year Utah gains a seat in congress and it is the congressional boundaries that are now in play, largely determining where and how the parties will be able to advance their influence at the federal level. Democrats are charging Utah republicans with steamrolling the process and excluding the interests of democratic and progressive voters. They say this keeps people from the polls when people feel that their votes don't matter. VIDEO:

Testimony of JIM DABAKIS, democratic party chairman for the state of Utah

video by Michael Orton for ImageProviders - ©2011 All Rights Reserved

Dabakis said that it has come down to "raw, political, brute force" on the part of a dominant party that is now operating behind closed doors and attempting to convince the public that they are all being served by this partisan effort. This prompted a response from Waddoups who said that since the chairs in the statehouse and in congress were determined by all of the people of Utah, that the seats went to the best candidates.

But the debate about congressional redistricting has recently become a controversy even internally amongst the republicans, many who are now reassessing their candidates running, or about to run, for the new congressional district that is being defined by these very legislators. Utah Representative Gibson said that the doors were closed because there were republicans fighting with other republicans over how the boundaries should be drawn and presumably, for whom. "If I have a fight in my house, I'm sorry but all of the visitors are going to have to leave."

Sevier Power Company Dumps Coal

photo courtesy of Creative Commons

Richfield, Utah –

After a meeting of the Sevier County Commission today, representatives from Sevier Power indicated that they had solicited bids from two companies to furnish natural gas to their proposed energy generation facility in Sigurd, Utah. The move effectively left the support of the county’s coal mining industry in the dust. Rod Clark and Bruce Taylor, spokesmen for Sevier Power, entered the county chambers just before noon with Ken May, president of Arch Coal’s Sufco mine operations in Salina.

At a February 1st meeting, Commission chair Gary Mason of Aurora expressed surprise that Sevier Power was a “no-show” after being placed on the county’s agenda then. At that time, Commissioner Mason indicated that he was sure that they would be in attendance at the commissioner’s very next scheduled meeting also during February. Opponents of the plant were surprised that Sevier Power Company was even in existence since vacating their Richfield offices last summer.

“We are trying to get a sense of where we’re at,” said commission chairman Gary Mason as he opened today's agenda item, “A lot of things have happened. We know that a zoning lawsuit has been dismissed so that we can move forward. There was a [state of Utah] Supreme Court decision but at this point, none of us knows exactly where the permitting process is at.” Mason continued, “We would like to move forward. We have a valid permit [application] before us,” at which point Commissioner Mason called upon Mr. Clark.

“We don’t know what the supreme court decision means,” began Clark, “We need to let you guys figure out what the next steps are. We think we’ve done everything you’ve asked us to do and we are waiting for a county permit.”

In the light of the state’s Supreme Court decisions, Mason asked Clark to take 30 days to come back with options that are appropriate for their current plans. Clark responded to the commissioners, stating, “If that’s a good faith request, we’ll try to get back to you in two weeks with some clarification.” The Sevier County commissioners were asking Sevier Power to clarify the company’s intent with all of their options, which Mason theorized were: moving forward with the current permit, converting to another fuel source instead of coal or dropping the permit application entirely. In November 2008, a citizen’s initiative was put on the county ballot after clearing a state Supreme Court hurdle which allowed the voters of the county to approve a coal-fired power plant permit. Representatives from the county’s Right to Vote committee were in attendance at today’s commission meeting. Elaine Bonavita, one of the initiative’s organizers said, “They’ve still got to get past us if they’re going to use coal for power generation.”

With a resumption of the permitting process now calendared for the commissioner’s April 5th meeting, more input from Sevier Power Co. as well as Sevier Citizens for Clean Air and Water and the Right to Vote Committee is expected.

It was after the county meeting that Clark confirmed rumored plans to switch to natural gas for their facility’s fuel source. When asked how they proposed to get a gas line that would furnish sufficient capacity for a 500 Megawatt plant from Scipio to Sigurd, Clark quipped, “Very carefully.” The closest natural gas line with that capacity roughly parallels Interstate 15 and would require easements and rights of way through 33 miles into Sigurd. Clark did not disclose the cost for that kind of infrastructure support, but indicated that Sevier Power Company had obtained two estimates from companies other than Questar to provide the pipeline. “One was very high,” said Clark, gesturing above his head, “and the other one we’ll have to investigate further.” Clark confirmed that his company has no contracts to furnish power to the grid as a merchant plant since Sevier Power is independent of Rocky Mountain Power or its parent, PacifiCorp. He said that no contracts from rural power cooperatives had been obtained either.

Opponents of the coal-fired plan were in attendance at the commissioner’s meeting and were interested in the details of the fuel source change. Their spokesman had remarked that Sevier Power’s switch to natural gas would forsake the miners who had vigorously defended the 270 MgW coal-fired plan. With several legal and application hurdles to overcome regarding coal use, the natural gas plan may prove easier not only with the EPA but at the local level where the 2008 citizen’s initiative would not apply.

Dick Cumiskey, the managing director of Sevier Citizens for Clean Air and Water said, “Before they begin an application for a natural gas plant, we would ask the county commissioners to have Sevier Power withdraw their coal permit application. These guys haven’t been able to complete any of their obligations in the permitting process.” Clark said that the power developer wouldn’t withdraw their coal permit before obtaining a permit for using natural gas, leaving a potential impasse for the county commissioners to sort out. It was clear from their comments made today that Sevier Power had already begun plans to switch from using coal to natural gas which the locals viewed as a significant development.

MicroBureau West and MicroBureau Utah are members of Creative Commons

State of Coal

by Michael Orton, all rights reserved

In light of the fact that coal-power developer Sevier Power Co. has closed their offices in Richfield, Utah, and that they have withdrawn their application for a fly ash disposal site within Sevier county, some may conclude that Sevier Power Company's plans for a 270 megawatt "merchant plant" in Sigurd, Utah is on the ropes. As of this writing, Sevier Power's application with the state's Department of Air Quality is also far beyond it's original expiration date, and that fact is being heralded by the central Utah conservation watchdogs, Sevier Citizens for Clean Air and Water.

Sevier Power Company principle Ken Flake moves out of Sevier County, Utah. Flake's company was trying to develop a 270 megawatt, coal-fired power plant in Sigurd, Utah

Many of Sevier County's public schools are still heated by coal. In a county where traditions and "good ol' boy" networks die hard, there is mounting evidence that Sevier Power Company's plans are terminally outdated. Because SPC was attempting to get their plant built without costly engineering required to limit pollution, these recent developments continue to threaten the idea that the old way of using coal power can continue at all. This does not mean that Sevier county's coal miners should feel that their jobs are threatened since Energy Secretary Steven Chu has said that we'll still be using coal for our energy demands as long as we learn to use it "more wisely." Current EPA Secretary Lisa Jackson has said that her department will enforce the laws involving environmental polluters, something that wasn't done during the previous administration. Her department is also planning to issue regulations governing future coal-fired power plants.

The formal withdrawal of Sevier Power Company's application to dump fly ash in Sevier County.

Last week, Dr. Brian Moench of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment made a presentation in Richfield (the Sevier County seat) entitled, "We Are What Our Grandparents Inhaled; Our Grandchildren Will Be What We Inhale." Dr. Moench is formerly of the Harvard Medical School, and as an anaesthesiologist, he has an understanding of breathing science that may prove to be more potent than coal-fired power plant exhaust. He believes that the state's Department of Air Quality exists to facilitate big business interests, not to protect the people of Utah which its name implies.

Citing the newest, prize-winning research in "epigenetics," "telomeres and telomerase," Dr. Moench said that "those [people who are] occupationally exposed to air pollution will have telomeres that are 10 years older than their chronological age should suggest." Telomeres are "caps" located at the ends of human chromosomes, and research into their role in aging, the origins of cancer, heart disease and mental illness is described as "Copernican" in its relevance to today's understanding of human biology.

As Dr. Moench described current research from the Environmental Working Group of the Columbia School of Public Health, he stated that "cancer is a disease of accumulated chromosome damage," that is unleashed when "cancer cells divide indefinitely." Hence the connection with telomeres and what medical science is now learning about them and the genetic implications of even tiny amounts of pollution.

"There is no 'safe' level of air pollution," declared Dr. Moench, "The average newborn has more than 200 hazardous chemicals profusing throughout its body on day one..." and that "for the first time ever, human life expectancy is dropping." "Today, one of two men and one of three women will have cancer in their lifetime," he continued.

"One thing that is not disputed by any policy makers, is that babies deserve to be born free of pollution," the doctor concluded by telling everyone, "Don't let any industry pollute your body, not even by tiny amounts."

It will show up in your posterity, he insists.