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: http://zebu.uoregon.edu/2004/es399/coburg.html
Дата изменения: Mon Mar 1 23:09:36 2004 Дата индексирования: Tue Oct 2 04:11:39 2012 Кодировка: Поисковые слова: south pole |
Our task is really to design an instrument or data to be acquired in order to do this, based on the input of the proponents and the opponents of this project.
So, here we go. (note: the source of this material is the Feb 22 op-ed piece by Gary Marcus in the Register Guard as the proponent and the Feb 25 advertisement in the RG against this power plant by a private citizen, Tom Lininger, who used to be a former county commissioner).
Proponent Position:
The facilitity will sell electricity to local utilities
not to California Why does this even
matter? Why is this a criteria?
Air emissions will meet every federal standard Again, how would we evaluate/test this statement?
Water comes from an industrial water right and local farmers will benefit
If power plant is approved, the $1 million dollars needed to upgrade fish screens and to fix leaks in the extant canal will be borne by the power plant.
Installation of new variable speed pumps will increase efficiency of water use by farmers.
In the winter, water would be drawn from muddy creek, not mckenzie and thus decrease flooding of muddy creek.
The plant will provide high paying local jobs Again, is this an important criteria? Should we build
facilities for this reason?
The plant will pay millions of dollars in property tax
Again, important or not?
Our economy will benefit How do
you measure this? How do you know? Is this just smoke and mirrors?
Our project will meet every state and federal pollution control requirement True or False?
This is where we want to discriminate and show the difference between objective criticism and scare tactics.
Yes this is true, but why make this particular reference?
The demand for power in Lane County will increase by
175 megawatts over the next 20
years. We assume Linn counties demand will be 1/3 of Lane Counties
and therefore total demand will increase by 235 megawatts over 20
years. Yet, the proposal is to build a 900 Megawatt facility.
Are these reasonable numbers? Is this a valid
argument that the 900 MW capacity is overkill for regional use?
Concluded opponent arguments based on the above:
1. The plant is overkill we don't need 900
MW but the pollution associated with 900 MW will remain in the
area.
2. Why should we pollute our local air shed, where air quality
is already poor, to generate power for faraway communities in the
Willamette Valley. Why should Lane County pull Portland's weight?
If Portland needs new power, let Portland build a gas plant in its
own backyard. Is this a logical
argument? What's the larger implication if we buy into this?
3. The whole PNW will need 3,000 MW of new power in the next 10 years.
Does it make sense for the Coburg power plant to provide 1/3 of the new
power needed by the entire region when the residents of Lane and Linn
counties make up less than 5% of the combined population in Oregon
and Washington? Again, is this really a valid
argument?
4. Lane county needs to import 525 MW of power in peak demand times
from BPA. But we can always do this. The relevant number is therefore
the extra power for Lane county. We project this at 175 MWs. This
does not justify the need for a 900 MW power plant.
Is this argument valid? Are there voodoo economics involved here?
What is being left out?
5. The plant only provides significantly new jobs in its construction, not in its operation.
6. Mr. Marcus asserts taht his plant would produce less than 1% of the total air pollution in Lane County. This argument is not persuasive for 2 reasons:
B). If there are other significant sources of pollution in our
county, we should consider strategies to reduce that pollution, not
cite it as a rationalization to pollute our air further Again, does this seem like an argument?
7. The plant's 195-foot stacks -- taller than the Statue of Liberty --
would be an eyesore in north Lane County. Part of the plant would emit
a large plume thus obscuring vistas of the federally protected three
sisters wildnerness area ???
8. Thousands of gallons of water would pass through the plant every minute. Residents are worried about the quality of the discharged water.
Summary statement:
In sum, the residents of north Lane County have good reasons for opposing the plan to build a 900 MW power plant in the Coburg area. This plant would be far larger than necessary to meet the projected increase in power demand for Lane and Linn counties. Our local air shed wuold be stuck with the pollution from the plant, but much of the power would likely be sold to buyers outside of Lane and Linn counties
Is this a reasonable and objective basis for
forming a position against the power plant? If not, what would be
such a basis?