Black Hawk County Board of Health Votes to Support Statewide Coal MoratoriumMedia release / media advisory / interview opportunity
Posted January 18th, 2008 by ElenaVelkov
Editors Contact: Lynn Laws January 16, 2008 Black Hawk County Board of Health Votes to Support Statewide Coal Moratorium Black Hawk County Board of Health voted 3-2 Wednesday morning in favor of supporting a statewide moratorium on new coal-fired power plants. The decision was based on a health report conducted by University of Northern Iowa Professor William Stigliani. An attempt to discredit the report, by LS Power Project Manager Mark Milburn, was unsuccessful. “The Black Hawk County report is convincing and accurately reflects the most current state of the science of the dangers of fine particulate matter on human health. We know coal-fired power plants contribute to increased asthma rates and premature death,” said Dr. Kristen Welker-Hood, Director of Environment and Health Programs for Physicians for Social Responsibility, who also testified before the Board of Health. “The report accurately demonstrates that more coal contributes to worsening air qualities in small Iowa towns, larger regional areas, and nearby Midwestern metropolitan cities. Black Hawk County made a huge decision by proposing Iowa adopt more stringent standards than the federal government to protect not only its citizens but those of the entire state,” Welker-Hood said. Opponents of new coal plants for Iowa say carbon emissions, which contribute to global warming, is another reason to stop building coal plants in the state. According to the report, a “750 MW coal-fired power plant burning approximately 3 million tons of coal per year, [such as the one proposed for the Waterloo area], will emit enormous quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2), roughly estimated at 7.4 million tons per year.” “As the health and economic reasons for not increasing coal use in Iowa continue to be revealed, more and more Iowans will join Black Hawk County in rejecting this old technology,” said Carrie La Seur, president of Plains Justice, an environmental law center in Cedar Rapids. An executive summary of the UNI study can be found at http://www.co.black-hawk.ia.us/PubHealth/pdffile.... #### |
