April 5 meeting, Cedar Falls Public Library

This Wednesday was the second community meeting on the proposed coal plant for Waterloo, Iowa. The first was an informational presentation back in February at the University of Northern Iowa, but it didn't allow for much public discussion. This meeting was all about public discussion, public questions, and all the questions we need to ask and answer about the proposed 700 MW of pulverized coal electrical generation on the edge of East Waterloo.

A few key issues include querying the developers' (LS Power) reasons for rejecting IGCC (Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle) technology when other power companies are choosing it as the cleanest and best available technology, what exactly the emissions will be and how they will affect our health, what this huge plant will do to local property values, and why LS Power wants to build their plant right next to an economically depressed area with one of the largest African-American populations in the state. There are a lot of questions.

Next meeting: Waterloo Public Library, 7 p.m., Wednesday April 12, 2006.