Home Fires

I live in the mid-western State of Indiana. My electricity is derived from a plant near downtown Indianapolis powered by the prime resource in these parts, i.e., coal. Right now there are other plants going up to provide ethanol from another regional resource--corn. Both of these could be sensitive issues today.

The problem with the coal-fired power plant that makes our lights go on is that it is old and dirty and billows clouds (if it could be seen) of carbon dioxide into the sometimes clear mid-western sky. The problem with the corn is that the plants to change it into "gasohol" will work the same way.

Now, Indiana is not the dirtiest polluter. it is just one of several states in the Midwest that have these old smoke and CO2 belchers. As a matter of fact, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin account for one fifth of the carbon dioxide emissions in the United States already and they're planning on more of these "old technology" power plants. That give this region of the United States the distinction of producing more global warming pollution than any single nation on the planet other than China, India, Japan and the countries formed from the former Soviet Union.

Our newspaper has a spot in the summer months that tell interested readers about "No-Zone" days when the atmospheric pollution is particularly bad. It's not only CO2 but mercury and small particulates that can do damage to us. So, what happened to the Clean Air Act?

Well, the Clean Air Act was modified to allow industries with the old, dirty technology to grandfather them, i.e., let them get away with their pollution until they built the cleaner plants. Unfortunately, if a plant is still running and producing power and there is plenty of coal around, why make a new plant a priority? That's why the mid-west is not the greatest place to to raise kids and to avoid lung disease. Oh, it's a great place to lure industry. We have coal enough to burn for the next hundred years!

Recognize, however, what coal is. Coal is the carboniferous remains of trees, trees that used to cover this region in a vast forest. Trees that breathed in carbon dioxide and exhaled oxygen. When a tree takes in CO2 and releases O2, what's left? What is left is C, carbon. What happens when we humans burn coal, or C? We release the product of that combustion, CO2. What else do we do? We produce soot, smog and other unhealthy stuff to get into our lungs and our kids' young bodies.

The Environmental Protection Agency has made a list of the counties that are still operating the old plants. Marion County, that encompasses Indianapolis, is one of them.

Ever hear of solar power? How about water power? Why not wind power?

Oh yes. There is also nuclear power.

Let's get rid of coal.