This is the text of an announcement SCCAW ran in this week’s Richfield Reaper
It’s Your Air, Not Sevier Power’s
Remember, once we let Sevier Power Company sully our clean air – we won’t get it back. We have existing air pollution in the valley – the exact amount has not been measured. The newest output proposal for SPC’s power plant will add tons of air pollution each year, according to our Utah Department of Air Quality. This state agency’s efforts have traditionally protected industry over human health, and that needs to change.
Are you aware that the footprint of the proposed natural gas-fired power plant will be nearly twice the size of the ill-conceived coal-fired power plant that was nixed by the Utah Supreme Court? Like it or not, this proposed plant will become the visual focal center of Sevier Valley. Day and night, this will be the image people remember about our valley. Our beautiful night skies will be gone along with our clear air.
When the wind blows from the north during the winter months, we all notice the dirty haze that envelops the valley. It remains here, trapped by our surrounding mountains. Where do you think the pollution from Sevier Power’s proposed plant will go when there is no southerly wind to clear our skies?
Threat to our tourism
For many years, we’ve welcomed riders from across the nation who enjoy our scenic vistas on the ATV Trail. Will their experience be ruined by a blanket of brown haze instead of our beautiful, colorful valley itself? Will winter thermal inversions increase the morbidity in our county?
For those of you who have driven to Disneyland or the Rose Bowl, you know what it is like to descend from the Colorado Plateau into the atmospheric soup of the Los Angeles basin. It could very well be the same descending though Salina Canyon or Clear Creek Canyon. Is that how we want visitors to be introduced to our county?
Many of our neighbors, young and old alike, have health concerns and many will develop pulmonary and other, related illnesses in the near future. It is estimated by Utah Division of Air Quality that 84% of the allowable air pollution as NOx* will be reached soon after the plant’s operation begins. These amounts are close to the quantities currently exhibited along the Wasatch front. Is this what you want?
Sure, everyone wants, needs and uses electricity, but this plant will not be furnishing it for the citizens of Sevier County. Our power is provided by Rocky Mountain Power / PacifiCorp and RMP has indicated they have no interest in Sevier Power’s “merchant plant.” Someone, somewhere may get the electricity while we are stuck with the deadly, dirty air. Other than the developers, who will benefit from the power generation is still unknown as SPC has yet to announce a customer.
No one will benefit from the pollution they will generate.
There is a lot to learn about the requested Air Quality permit for Sevier Power Company. See the Notice of Intent on page 10A of The Richfield Reaper, April 11. You are encouraged to submit written comments to UDAQ about this murky proposal on or before May 11. A public hearing has been requested but not yet scheduled.
You are invited to attend an open house sponsored by Sevier Citizens for Clean Air & Water on Thursday, April 19, 7:00 PM in the basement auditorium of the Sevier County Administration Building, 250 N Main, Richfield, where more information will be available.
*NOx is a generic term for mono-nitrogen oxides NO and NO2
a message sponsored by SEVIER CITIZENS FOR CLEAN AIR AND WATER – SCCAW.org