"the People's Paths!" Cherokee News Path

"Citizens meeting in Sallisaw raise their hands in a show of protest to the proposed coal-fired power plant." (Photo courtesy
of Darryl Philips)

SALLISAW, Oklahoma – Citing cleaner technologies available and possible health problems related to environmental pollution, some Cherokee Nation citizens recently allied as part of the Sequoyah County Clean Air Commission to protest the building of a coal-fired power plant near the Sallisaw landfill.

Tenaska Inc., an international power development company and energy marketer based in Omaha, Neb., wants to build the power plant 1.5 miles north of the Gans community in Sequoyah County, which is located within the tribe’s jurisdiction. However, some tribal citizens aren’t sold on the idea of the new coal-fueled power plant.

“I want the coming generations to live in a clean environment,” Mary Adair said. “There are so many potential problems if this plant is built.”

Adair, a CN citizen and SCCAC member, said the group formed several years ago when another company was looking to build a coal power plant in the McKey community, also located near Sallisaw. However, that plant was never built.

Since then, the group met annually until they heard about Tenaska’s intention to buy 950 acres at the Sallisaw landfill, Steven Dobbs, SCCAC president, said.

The group’s goal is to provide educational information to the public about coal-fired plants and to put pressure on city and county leaders by showing opposition to the proposed plant.

Health issues are major reasons why John Weddle, a CN citizen and an emergency room doctor at Sparks Regional Medical Center in nearby Fort Smith, Ark., said he is against the plant. Weddle said small particles get deep into lung tissue leading to chronic lung disease, asthma, breathing problems and heart disease.

“We must protect ourselves,” he said. “Coal-fired power plants are dirty technology that goes back in time instead of going forward.”

The group said the plant will consume about 100 railroad cars of coal per day and will generate electricity to be sold to other regions, maybe even to Canada.

“But we’ll get the pollution,” said Dobbs.

Bill Braudt Jr., Tenaska general manager of business development, told members of the Sallisaw Chamber of Commerce that the plant would cost more than $1 billion and would be completed in 2012, according to a Nov. 17, 2006, article in the Sequoyah County Times.

In an Oct. 16, 2006, SCT report, Braudt said construction would bring between 1,000 and 1,500 workers to the area and that once the plant was operating, it would employ between 70 and 100 people. However, the Tenaska Web site lists employee numbers much lower at most facilities ranging from 25 to 30 employees at plants in Shiro, Texas, and nine in Franklin, Ga.

The November SCT article also stated that the Sallisaw landfill was an ideal location because it is already licensed to accept industrial waste. And Braudt said the fly ash from coal-fired plants is considered waste and might be used to cover trash at the landfill. Other reasons for building at the landfill included that the site is close to two railroads and to the Arkansas River and that power lines already near the area would lessen the cost of installing more lines.

Braudt said the company would use the best technology available to build the cleanest coal-fired generation plant possible at the site. He also said the plant would be situated between two ridges making it barely visible from any direction.”

However, local citizens don’t accept the company’s statements.

“The plant may be out of sight but not out of our minds,” Weddle said. “We don’t subscribe to the view of what we don’t see won’t hurt. Air, water pollution and radiation are cousins in this regard.”

Another concern voiced by local attorney Jeff Edwards is that the Sequoyah County plant would be Tenaska’s first coal-fired facility.

“All of Tenaska’s plants up to date have been gas-fired,” Edwards said. “When Tenaska says it has a good track record, the problem with that statement is that all their old plants are gas plants. When Tenaska says they will use the best available technology, coal is never the best available technology. It’s the cheapest technology.”

Edwards said the types of emissions related to coal power plants, including mercury, are linked by studies to autism, a developmental disability resulting from a disorder in the human central nervous system, and other neurological problems in children.

“Emissions can go for miles and miles,” he said. “You may not see them or smell them, but they’re there.”

Weddle, who was raised in Sequoyah County, agreed that if lower emissions are wanted, gasification is the best available technology.

“I’m appalled this community has been singled out to be a site for a coal-fired power plant. The proposed plant in Sallisaw is the minimum technology required by law – not the best,” he said. “Gasification plants are highly efficient and can reuse heat to run another turbine, but they are expensive to build. Tenaska’s in it for the money.”

In southeastern Oklahoma, Tenaska has a natural gas-fired plant at Kiowa, which is owned by Kiowa Power Partners, LLC.

For more information on SCCAC, visit its web site at sequoyahcleanair.org. For more information on Tenaska, log onto tenaska.com.