Friday, July 27, 2001

Williams should set facts straight

Apparently, Williams company would like us to believe that the air pollution from their proposed power plant will have "no significant impact on air quality."

Don't be fooled by the slick rhetoric. You'll get air pollution, and plenty of it. As a matter of fact, Williams only talks about 500 tons per year of nitrogen oxide.

There are other hazardous air pollutants emitted by gas-fired power plants, such as sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, ammonia, arsenic, beryllium, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs, benzene and sulfuric acid).

These other pollutants will amount to about 3,000 tons per year and they won't be offsetting these!

A similar power plant of size and technology in Murray County has stated in their application that their potential emissions are 605 tons per year of particulate matter (soot and other aerosols), 570 tons per year of nitrogen oxide (smog contributor), 2,124 tons of carbon monoxide, 236 tons of sulfur dioxide, 355 tons of VOCs (smog contributors), and less than a ton of sulfuric acid.

Williams' numbers may be somewhat different, but don't think the air is getting better. What Williams should provide is a grant to the community to do an unbiased air model to show how much of this air pollution will come down on the community, especially with Christian City so close.

There are other facts that Williams can't seem to get straight either. First we heard that the four stacks would be 18 stories high, now they're 21 stories tall.

They originally promised 200 acres of green space, now it's less than a hundred. They said it would be one facility, now there will very likely be an expansion. We saw one power plant building in the original picture (which they called "a correct artist's rendition"), now their own report says there will be an additional "administration building, water treatment building, a natural gas metering building, a warehouse and other miscellaneous buildings tanks for chemicals as well as holding tanks for treated and untreated water."

Williams representatives were asked what they would do with the cemetery on site and responded by saying, "We will improve the situation." Apparently this improvement means that they will dig up the dead people and move them somewhere else. (I hope my remains can stay in one spot till the Lord returns.)

We appreciate the fact that Williams may be in the development phase and may not have all the answers, but they are the intruders here. They need to get their facts straight.

The Rev. Dr. Randy Colver

Pastor, Atlanta City Church

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