Pueblo, Colo.-area labor, environmental groups rap Xcel's power plant plans
The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo. --Aug. 20
Aug. 20--Area trade unions would like the jobs that come with a new Xcel power plant but the utility may not be able to count on their support for the kind of plant it wants to build in Pueblo.
The seminar's panel was made up of Chris Nevitt of the Front Range Economic
Strategy Center, which advocates a cleaner, coal-gasification method, Neil Hall,
business manager for the Colorado Building and Construction Trades Council, and
Kathleen Anderson, a researcher who specializes in studying boom and bust
economies.
The discussion was moderated by Bill Thiebaut, the unchallenged Democratic
candidate for District Attorney in November's election.
Nevitt passed out copies of a proposal he wrote with Justin Dawe of
Environment Colorado urging Xcel to build an integrated gasification combined
cycle plant instead of the traditional coal-fired plant it has on the drawing
board now.
Xcel has selected Pueblo as the site for a new 750-megawatt generator to be
built adjacent to the existing Comanche Station plant.
The IGCC system superheats coal to extract flammable gas that is then burned
to fire the boilers. Xcel plans to burn pulverized coal as it does at Comanche
now and has rejected the IGCC proposal as unproven technology.
Nevitt said that the IGCC technology would need one-tenth of the 5,000 acre
feet of water that the new plant would require annually, it would make cleanup
of pollutants like mercury more easy and could be built in stages over a longer
period of time.
It was that last point that has won over union leaders. Xcel has said that
construction would mean 1,000 jobs but local trade union leaders expect most of
those jobs would be filled by itinerant workers because Pueblo couldn't ramp up
its work force quickly enough. A longer-term project would mean more jobs for
area workers, Hill said, during his part of the presentation.
During the 2-hour session, a number of other union representatives echoed
that and charged that a new power plant being built outside Colorado Springs had
allegedly used illegal aliens.
Hill said his organization was urging Xcel to use the IGCC method.
Anderson said that communities faced with large projects that benefit outside
corporations need to negotiate good terms. "The only opportunity you have
to engage in that boom and bust cycle is at the beginning," she said.
Anderson warned that bringing in large numbers of workers with no roots in the
area can destabilize a community with increased alcoholism, drugs and
sexually-transmitted diseases. "The bars always do well," she said.
A number of people in the audience complained that there were no elected
officials at the meeting, even though the city and county are planning to give
Xcel $33 million in tax breaks while planning to get $13 million up front to
fund a new police station. Thiebaut called their absence a "sad
commentary."
Others urged the group to turn out at a public hearing Sept. 23 that the
Public Utilities Commission will hold in Pueblo to take comments on the Xcel
plan. The PUC is expected to rule sometime in November on the utility's
proposal.
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