Sep. 10--WATERLOO -- Merle Bell was not ready for what he was about to see, or feel.

He clambered up on the flatbed trailer, saw more than 500 people gathered in a clearing surrounded by apple trees on his land, and got a lump in his throat. "It chokes me up that all you people would come out here and help me," Bell said, as the late afternoon sun illuminated the clearing. "You can see I've got a utopia up here." His "utopia" -- a farm northeast of Waterloo his ancestors bought in 1879 -- will no longer exist if LS Power builds a $1.3 billion, 750-megawatt coal-fired power plant on his property. An opposition group, Community Energy Solutions, organized the Sunday evening rally on Bell's property in advance of a key state hearing in Waterloo Wednesday on the project.

Due to Bell's objection to the city of Waterloo's proposed annexation of his land for the project, the state's City Development Board will hold a public hearing on the annexation at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Schoitz Room of the Waterloo Center for the Art . The board will hear comments for and against the annexation. It is not known when the board will make a decision. Sunday's rally included a brass quintet, food, refreshments and a demonstration of Heartland Farms' "Punkinator" pressurized pumpkin-shooting cannon for the kids. It attracted so many people, parked cars backed up a half mile along the entire length of he drive up to Bell's farm and back onto Newell Road.

Attendees were shuttled to the Bell's farm in tractor-drawn hay racks. Bell, unlike some neighbors, did not sign a petition to have his property annexed into the city of Waterloo for the project. The city planning commission and the City Council approved the annexation in the spring. Local business groups have endorsed the project. It would be the largest economic development project in the city's history in terms of dollars. Supporters of LS Power, headquartered in East Brunswick, N.J., with offices in St. Louis, have noted the pla t would meet stringent environmental standards and be heavily regulated by state and federal agencies.

However, Cedar Falls City Council member Kamyar Enshayan said, "We see this proposed coal plant as the single most life-threatening assault on the people of the Cedar Valley and Northeast Iowa." Enshayan, who was speaking for himself, works at the Center for Energy and Environmental Education at the University of Northern Iowa. He said the plant would contribute to global warming, and its emissions would threaten residents' health and safety, p rticularly that of children. "A century farm is better than a smokestack, period," said Mount Vernon environmental attorney Carrie La Seur of Plains Justice, a nonprofit organization aiding Community Energy Solutions.

"But we're not just here because this is a lousy place to build a coal plant," she said. "We're here because this state and this country and this planet need better than this old 19th century technology that sickens anyone it touches." La Seur also suggested the project, first announced in late 2005, has not been built yet because opposition has been vocal enough that regulators are asking for additional information about plant operations and emissions. LS Power project manager Mark Milburn said last week the process has taken longer than anticipated, but LS Power plans to file its permit requests with the Iowa Utilities Board and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources this month.

Bell admitted he agreed to a real estate option on his land with LS Power three years ago, but said it was under duress and done out of concerns for his wife's health. "They wanted an option on my property, and I said no," initially, Bell said. But LS Power indicated it intended to pursue the project with other adjacent property owners. His wife said she did not want to live near the plant if the company bypassed Bell s property and built it nearby. So Bell agreed to the option, believing they would be forced to move anyway if the plant located nearby due to his wife's health. "She died less than a year later," Bell said.

The option runs out in December, Bell said, and he will not agree to an extension, forcing LS Power to either negotiate an outright sale or attempt involuntary acquisition. He noted his father-in-law was faced with a similar circumstance when the city o Waterloo acquired his property in the 1960s for an urban renewal project in the general area where the present-day John Deere Foundry is located. "The politicians and the businessmen in Waterloo want this, and the people don't. This kind of proved it today," Bell said, referring to the rally turnout. Another nearby property owner is Doug D. Miller on Newell Road.

His family owns 180 acres proposed for acquisition for the project, the largest single piece of property. He said his family members do not oppose annexation, but have not yet agreed to an ption extension. Miller said he is taking a neutral position and wants to see the regulatory process regarding the project take its course. "I do have faith in our elected officials," and the regulatory process, said Miller, who did not attend the rally. "If the (environmental) laws need to change, then they need to change. But if they (LS Power officials) meet those laws, then they have a ight to build this plant." Property owner Phyllis Morgan, who also lives along Newell Road, said LS Power project manager Milburn has repeatedly tried to acquire her property.

"I told him he didn't have enough money," Morgan said. Community Energy Solutions Vice President Don Shatzer read a quote from Abraham Lincoln: "To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards out of men." "I don't see any cowards out here today," Shatzer said. Contact Pat Kinney at (319) 291-1484 or Pat.Kinney@wcfcourier.com