Hundreds of concerned residents in Scott County oppose approval of a new natural-gas power plant proposed for prime farmland east of Maysville, Iowa.
Dozens of residents crowded into Scott County Library in Eldridge on Wednesday night, Jan. 21, to hear some of the concerns regarding a planned 240-megawatt plant proposed by Central Iowa Power Cooperative (CIPCO). Concerned Citizens of Scott County formed last fall in response to the plan, and held Wednesday’s meeting to inform the public of multiple impacts that a proposed natural-gas fired, electricity generating peaking plant, would have on Scott County and surrounding areas.
There are multiple environmental, safety, and health impacts, plus the potential for property values to lower, according to the citizen group, noting this type of plant produces hazardous nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxides, plus additional pollutants into the atmosphere.
“Our goal tonight is to get more public support to stop the ordinance that allows power plants on the best farmland in the world, which we have in Scott County,” said Linda Golinghorst of Maysville, who lives less than a half-mile from the plant site and led Wednesday night’s meeting. Over 650 people have signed an online petition opposing the plant, she noted.
The proposed zoning change to Agriculture-Prime (A-P) land use for this type of facility will come before the Scott County Board of Supervisors.
“We are plain and simple, squarely against the proposed ordinance change that would end up allowing CIPCO or any thermoelectric power plants, be it gas, coal, nuclear,” Golinghorst said. “The ordinance allows for that in the Ag Preservation District. So we're not specifically against CIPCO. We're against the ordinance because it allows any of that. We feel like this has been moving very fast. CIPCO requested the ordinance change last summer in the June or July time frame. We didn't learn about it, even though we live very close, until September.”
The ordinance changes have been recommended by Planning and Zoning, and are due to be considered by the Scott County Supervisors at their meeting Thursday, Jan. 29.
If approved, the county Board of Adjustment would consider a Special Use Permit that would allow CIPCO to build. There is a comprehensive plan that was developed in 2008 for Scott County, but nothing in it addresses the ability to put a power plant on any kind of rural land, Golinghorst noted.
“We know that things have changed. Data centers are driving the need for more increased power production,” she said. “But we feel no power plant decision in Scott County should occur without an update to that plan, and proper analysis with community needs and input, which is what happens.
“To develop that plan in 2008, it didn't take weeks or months. It took a long time. It was a big study,” she said. “So we think that should happen first. However, at CIPCO's request, Scott County took more of a short-term view and proposed this ordinance change for a special-use permit for power plants on ag preservation land.”
“There's no protections that are written into the ordinance. The text is really grossly insufficient in our view, given the risks that come with the power plant,” Golinghorst said. “It specifies only that the power plant be sited efficiently, so near gas and power lines. Well, every power company is going to want that. That's great. It largely benefits the power company, though.”
“The peaker power plant, that it will only run 20% of the time. So you might be led to think, well, that's good, but emissions are more concentrated and harmful because they have to start up really fast,” she added. “And there's less controls for this type of a plant that are required, so it's not better for us.”
“This will forever change the best cropland in the world,” Golinghorst said. “And why would we ever permit excess use of land anyway of any kind? So there's no need to site this on prime farmland at all. There's other options.”
CIPCO’s plans
The Hickory Grove Generating Station from Central Iowa Power Cooperative aims to supply reliable energy derived from a diverse and dependable mix of resources, and this plant would sit on 30 acres near Maysville, in rural Scott County.
“This generating facility is critically needed to meet the power demands of members today and for the decades ahead,” according to the CIPCO website. “This facility will bolster CIPCO's ‘all-the-above’ resource portfolio strategy and add to our diverse mix of energy resources and join the existing fleet of Iowa’s dependable, and long-lasting, natural gas-fired power plants.”
CIPCO has operated a dispatch and transmission facility in nearby Wilton for over 35 years, in addition to providing wholesale power to Eastern Iowa Light & Power REC, the local distribution electric cooperative serving large portions of rural Scott County.
This new natural gas project will:
Generate safe and stable power: This power plant will be used during periods of critical peak demand, especially in the winter and summer months. This dispatchable resource is critically needed during those times to maintain a reliable, cost-effective power supply for our members while providing stability to Iowa’s electric grid.
Cost effectively preserves energy reliability: Many different types of responsive energy resources were exhaustively evaluated, and the results clearly show that adding natural gas peaking generation will bring responsible balance of economy, flexibility and dependability to CIPCO’s resource portfolio.
Promote a positive impact on neighboring communities: CIPCO is dedicated to strong ties within the communities we serve. This commitment includes working with surrounding landowners, transparently addressing community concerns and being mindful of all those affected by a new generation asset in the region.
As a generation and transmission electric cooperative, CIPCO is wholly owned and governed by 13-member electric distribution cooperatives and associations, that receive wholesale power from the utility. Through those member-owners, CIPCO provides electricity to 58 counties stretching from the southwest corner to the northeast corner of Iowa.
The Hickory Grove Generating Station (HGGS) will be a natural gas-fired facility that is capable of providing 240 megawatts (MW) of electricity when running at full capacity.
The need to establish the HGGS comes as a result of strategic planning conducted by the CIPCO Board of Directors and the professional staff that work for the cooperative. Like all other utilities, CIPCO performs this critical research to ensure that the cooperative is able to meet the power demands of their member-owners, all day, every day. CIPCO carried out an exercise that is often referred to as integrated resource planning that definitively acknowledged that additional generation resources would be required in order to meet current and future demands for electricity.
The planning process revealed that CIPCO’s current power mix is responsibly derived from a diverse menu of generation resources and that a natural gas-powered facility would provide the most cost-effective and reliable resource to add to the cooperative’s electricity portfolio.
The HGGS will be a “peaking” power facility that is not intended to run all the time. Rather, this power plant will typically be used during times when electricity demand is high and exceed the baseload power capacity that is available to serve the needs of member-consumers. CIPCO anticipates that the HGGS will operate less than 20% of the calendar year.
The location of the plant was chosen to be established near Maysville in northern Scott County for many reasons. The CIPCO Board of Directors selected the location over other locations due to the area supplying the necessary infrastructure in addition to the proximity of the region where the cooperative is experiencing an increase in demand for electricity, the company said.
The Hickory Grove site is uniquely positioned to provide economically feasible access to existing natural gas pipeline infrastructure in addition to being near current CIPCO-owned transmission lines that will provide efficient connection to the power grid. These characteristics of the Hickory Grove location will help minimize disruption for local landowners and keep costs of the project lower than other sites that were extensively evaluated.
Eastern Iowa continues to experience increased demands for power and like other utilities that serve consumers in the region, CIPCO is committed to meeting those needs through responsible additions to energy offerings, like the HGGS.
Potential health risks
Dr. Ross Burandt, who lives in Eldridge, on Wednesday discussed potential health risks of the plant.
The fine particulate emissions are small enough to reach into lungs that cause disease and inflammation. “These pollutants can worsen pre-existing conditions like asthma, COPD and lead to respiratory disease,” Dr. Burandt said. “Scott County already has average or above average rates of these diseases like asthma or COPD. I see them in my clinic.”
He noted that 17,000 people in Scott County have asthma and over 5,000 live with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A major study of the state New York, looking at 15 years of data, found an 11% increase in asthma hospitalizations, 15% increase in respiratory infections and 17% increase in COPD hospitalizations in ZIP codes with fuel-fired power plants.
“The thought of putting more particulates into the air does not resonate well with me,” Dr. Burandt said. “I take care of these patients every day with pre-existing conditions and it does make us vulnerable to even small increases in air pollution. I take care of children and adults who need inhalers for these diseases. And inhalers are already expensive and barely covered by some, if not all, insurance plans.”
“Once a gas plant becomes permanent, or once a gas plant is built, the exposure becomes permanent, you can't just get rid of the emissions,” he added. “You can't see fine particulate pollution, but you can definitely feel it, whether it's in your lungs or your chest or your medical bills. And as a physician and a neighbor, I continue to urge our leaders to put the health of Eldridge and Scott County residents first. The evidence is clear that natural gas plants increase these respiratory illnesses and hospitalizations in nearby communities. And I believe that Scott County deserves a better and safer electrical generation capacity. I think we have one chance to get this right.”
Potential conflicts of interests
Golinghorst noted a few potential conflicts of interest regarding the plant site. The land is currently owned by Zoning Board of Adjustment chairman and board member Tom Dittmer. Dittmer currently rents two hog farms from John and Joan Maxwell, and John Maxwell is chairman of the Scott County Board of Supervisors, and his wife is on the county Planning and Zoning Commission.
Dr. Nikhil Wagle, another physician, noted in Sioux City, Iowa, there are two coal power plants, and their county has the highest rate of asthma than any other county in the state and among the highest in the country.
“They also have one of the highest rates of lung cancer and pulmonary issues as well,” he said. “So all you have to do is do a deep dive on Woodbury County in Sioux City, and you will see. And they're in the process of trying to shut those plants down now because the evidence is so clear that there is asthma and pulmonary related issues.”
“The second thing that has been brought to our attention is that there was not much transparency here. From what I understand, many people, including our own person on the Board of Supervisors, didn't even find out about this,” Dr. Wagle said. “We should be screaming. The bigger picture here is why has there not been transparency?”
“The third thing is there's a huge conflict of interest, as you heard from the lawyer here. And it'll be very interesting to see when this Board of Supervisors does vote on this,” he added, “Will John Maxwell recuse his vote? Because basically you have to be ethical and transparent. And if you have a vested interest, you need to recuse your vote. I'm on the Pleasant Valley School Board. When there are things that affected things that were personal to me, I recused myself because I did not think it was appropriate for me to weigh in on something like that.”
Board of Supervisors member
Maria Bribriesco, a member of the Board of Supervisors, attended Wednesday’s meeting and wants to get more information. She plans to add a public hearing and presentation on the plan to the Jan. 29 board meeting. She also wants to change the county comprehensive plan to address these issues.
“I never realized zoning was so important,” she said. “If we amend the ordinance, it never comes back to us; we have washed our hands. And I don’t think it should be that way. At this point, it’s so important, we need to decide.”
“I don’t think we’re against economic development,” Bribriesco said. “But let’s be smart about it. This is our future. We need to be smart. This is going to impact our community; we need to have our voices heard.”
She noted a 2024 U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on peaker power plants.
There were 999 peakers in the U.S. in 2021, according to GAO's analysis of the most recent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data. Most of these peakers were fueled by natural gas. In 2021, peakers accounted for 3.1 percent of annual net electricity generation and 19 percent of total designed full-load sustained output for all power plants, according to the report.
Peakers, and other plants, emit multiple pollutants associated with various negative health effects for the people exposed, according to EPA data and GAO's review of selected studies. For instance, short-term exposure to sulfur dioxide, which peakers emit, can lead to harmful respiratory effects, such as decreased lung function, cough, chest tightness, and throat irritation.
The next regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors will be Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026 at 5 p.m., in the Board Room of Scott County Administrative Center, 600 W. 4th St., Davenport. The CIPCO plan also requires state of Iowa approval before going forward.
For more information on Board of Supervisors meetings, click HERE.
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