Gloria Ferris

This month’s Brews explored a topic that is fast approaching D-Day- the new  AMP Ohio “clean coal” contract that Cleveland City Council will sign or reject on March 1.  There will be a public hearing held this Friday, February 22 which will provide the last discussion before a vote is taken.

I grew up in rural Ohio and I am puzzled by the expression “clean coal”.  In my book, there is no such thing, but that is the tag line, so I went wanting to know the answer to that question.  I also wanted to know how it could economically benefit our city to sign a FIFTY year contract with a private company.

The format of this conversation was different than the usual Midtown Brews  Thanks to Stefani Spear of Earthwatch Ohio we had a well-versed panel on the subject.  Go here to see the panelists.   We also had approximately 100 people in the room who were extremely interested in the subject.  A lot of things were different about this Brews-we were in a new place, there was live streaming video, Andy Halko, founder of Insivia, our host monitered an ongoing chat so that people watching could enter in the conversation.  Despite all those changes, one thing remained the same.  I departed with a different perspective than when I arrived. 

My first question in regards to “clean Coal” is coal isn’t clean, but what is different about this coal plant will be the requirement for stringent scrubbing and something called CO2 Carbon Recapture Technology .  Those of us who live in Cleveland are well aware of the hows and why and if scrubbing is done.  But then, we found out that the reality of Meigs County is this.  Meigs County is the ONLY county in Ohio that does not NOW have EPA monitors in place.  The Ohio EPA is working feverishly to change this, but the legislation and the paperwork is still not in place.  Meigs County presently has more coal plants than any other county in Ohio.  I also believe it is very high on the scale nationally.  Why does this situation exist?

Councilman Zone then stated that IF Cleveland signs the contract that it will give us a 10% stake (I am paraphrasing here and I may not be stating this exactly, but this would give Cleveland a place at the table where we could then monitor the company and make sure that EPA standards are followed and enhanced) Go to Meet The Bloggers for the whole story.  I believe that the three young men at that table believe that it is better to be involved than to simply say NO, and I agree with that philosophy.  I also believe that we have three very capable advocates for “green” issues.  However, I know firsthand, promises made, and not kept by coal companies. 

I grew up on the border of Wayne and Holmes Counties where strip mining in the late sixties and early seventies was ”big business” .  Promises that said land would be reclaimed, damage from blasting would be reimbursed, “when we leave you won’t know we were here”.  Thirty years later,  the forest on the hills has been replaced by what my father always called scrub brush, structures that were once homes remain abandoned and vacant because of blasting damage to foundations or because wells dried up because of a shift in the water table.  An area never wealthy in money, but an area rich in tradition, rural pride and beautiful scenery is much poorer today than it was when I was growing up.  Promises were made and not kept, and therefore, I believe that these young men who believe that they can make a difference need to proceed with eyes wide open.   

We never really talked much about the economic feasibilty of a fifty year contract or why it is in the best interest of our city except to bring in the CPP (Cleveland Public Power) piece which I understand is quite fragile at this point in time because it cannot expand unless there is a place to buy coal reasonably.  CPP is often brought up as the reason that our rates here in Cleveland are what they are, but I don’t see the advantage.  CPP and CEI rates are comparable.  We have  some of the highest rates if not the highest rates in Ohio.  Bill Callahan often posts on this issue.  Here, here, and here are examples of the questions Bill posits.  And then there is this post about the issue that includes  the independent study paid for by Ohio Citizens For Action that made me really sit up and take notice. 

From what I can glean from this study, the place at the table for those municipalities that sign the contract is on a participartory committee with no real authority.  The authority remains with the company’s board of directors but what I really found troubling was the ability of the company based on “market rates” to set price.  Why would we enter into a deal that does not set some limits to price?  Also, there appears to be no back door.  What if our need for coal dwindles because of new technologies, new ways of conservation, and who knows why else our need for coal may decrease?  If more stringent Federal EPA guidelines are introduced and passed, where will we be holding a contract that ties us to a dying industry for how many more years? How come I keep thinking of the story about Daniel Webster and the Devil?

I am still finding it hard to see the economic benefit for us to sign this fifty year contract.  As many of the people said at the meeting, with or without Cleveland the deal goes forward.  But then, the really, really hard thing for me to get my head around is how do we in Cleveland justify being part of adding one more coal plant to an area inundated with coal plants?

The accompanying air and water pollution, the health issues of breathing dirty air, the fouling of the Ohio River which is one of the largest sources of fresh water which eventually flows into the Mississippi and the possibility of mountaintop mining changing the skyline in are beautiful state  are probably the more troubling issues.  How can we here in Northeast Ohio move forward economically knowing that by so doing, we have sentenced our neighbors in Meigs County to a continuation of a quality of life that consists of dirty air and fouled water? 

If any group of people should understand the moral issue that is staring us in the face, it should be those of us who have lived in sight of the steel mills for generations.  Our economy here took a huge hit when the steel mills began to shrink, but the water quality of the Cuyahoga River bounced back.  Although our air quality is still not anything to put in the plus column it certainly is better than when I moved here in the 70’s.  And no one, in the discussion that night, mentioned the coal miners who depend on these mining jobs.  There will be two coal plants that will close.  Will those miners go to the new plant?  Will there be as many jobs as now?  

Councilman Brian Cummins in one simple statement said it all.  “I worked in the Peace Corps for three years during those years, I had no TV, I could do that I am not sure that everyone else would.” So how do we balance the need for electricty with the health of our planet?