The Scott County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Thursday to reject an ordinance change that would allow construction of a new natural-gas power plant proposed for prime farmland east of Maysville, Iowa.
The request was for a Hickory Grove Generating Station from Central Iowa Power Cooperative (CIPCO) to supply reliable energy derived from a diverse and dependable mix of resources, and the 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.
At Thursday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, Feb. 12, some board members noted the massive public opposition to the new plant, and said even if it was needed, this prime farmland is not the right location for it.
“This ordinance is not the solution,” Supervisor Jean Dickson said. “So I just want to state that and that for me, there's no compelling county interest at this point to justify going against what I've heard from so many citizens on this issue.”
Before the board vote (4-0 against with Ken Beck abstaining), Mary Maher of Davenport asked the board to vote against the plant, since people would be exposed to harmful emissions that could greatly impact their health.
“CIPCO tells us they need access to more energy generation during peak times. Well, I suggest that they put their efforts into building additional infrastructure to get more renewable energy from wind, hydroelectric, landfill, gas capture and solar,” she said. “This Scott County Board of Supervisors could help them with their need for more energy by taking off the restrictions that the board has in place for the building of solar farms on Scott County land.”
If the plant were allowed on this property, “it could take a valuable ground that could never be put back into crop production,” Maher said. “Whereas with a solar farm, the land it is built on continues to become more fertile as it sits.
"Agricultural crops or native plants could be grown among the solar gathering units. Animals could also graze on the side of the solar farm. The energy generated by the solar panels would also be a source of revenue for the farmer.
“This would be a win-win situation,” she said. “And if technology advances and the solar farm is no longer needed, the farmer could transition back to just crop ground or livestock uses. I think farmers would be ready, willing and able to put in solar farms as I see many solar panels put up by rural homes for the individual farmers’ use.
“So at this time, the board could take care of two problems and vote no to CIPCO building a thermal energy generation plant and change the restrictions that this board has put in place hampering the building of solar farms on ag land,” Maher added.
Heartened by citizen involvement
“I’m heartened by the engagement of our citizens,” Supervisor Maria Bribriesco said Thursday. “I think a healthy democracy requires civic engagement and that's what happened here. And we do listen. We are here to represent our constituents and to do what's best for the county,” she said.
Bribriesco said she appreciated that CIPCO saw a need for such a facility, but this is the wrong location, that would be “smack dab in the middle of prime farmland and, and that to me was a no go.”
Supervisor Ross Paustian said he is 70 now, and has lived and farmed in Hickory Grove Township his whole life.
“I don't think CIPCO handled this whole situation very well,” he said, noting the company complained how slow the county was, after getting the proposal last Oct. 21, and expected a quicker decision.
“We weren't involved with the zoning board meetings. That was the zoning board's job. So you got to realize government moves slow, and so that's why it took so long,” Paustian said. “It was kind of out of our hands. And I'm finally glad it's come to us now because to be fair to CIPCO and to be fair to Concerned Citizens of Scott County, we need to settle this issue. So I don't think I've ever seen such a big group of people organized.
“I think there were 600 signatures on a petition. I. I've never seen anything like that. And so you should be proud of yourselves that you got organized, stuck with it.”
Ken Beck abstained from voting, noting the request was for an ordinance change that would allow thermal energy plants to be constructed by any utility company at any location within Scott County.
“The question that remains unanswered to me is the need for additional power for rural Scott County residents worth losing ag ground not just for CIPCO, but for any future requests,” he said. “Just about everybody agrees that more power is needed. Although I respect the information CIPCO provided, it is my opinion that an independent analysis is warranted that demonstrates this ordinance change is needed for Scott County.”
Supervisor John Maxwell said the need for more power was not absolutely proven by CIPCO, and this wasn’t the right spot for this plant.
“And as others have pointed out, maybe an industrial park where you pipe in gas and you make bigger electrical lines might be a better spot,” he said.
“Whether it comes into an industrial park in the city of Davenport or something like that, that is not for me to do. But for today that needs to be a no because we don't want it in our back door,” Maxwell said. “And I don't want to look out my window as a lot of my friends don't want to look out their window and see a pipe and everything else going on in the middle of a field. So that I think we do need eventually more power, especially if coal gets decommissioned in 15 or so years. But for now that's not the case. We need to look at better plans.”
Hundreds of concerned residents in Scott County opposed approval of the plant, and dozens crowded into Scott County Library in Eldridge on Jan. 21, to hear some of the concerns regarding the planned 240-megawatt plant.
Concerned Citizens of Scott County formed last fall in response to the plan, and held that 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,” Linda Golinghorst of Maysville, who lives less than a half-mile from the plant site and led the Jan. 21 meeting, said then.
By that meeting, over 650 people signed an online petition opposing the plant, she noted.
Supervisor Bribriesco last month 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.
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