Odds and ends, 10/23/07

Someone asked me yesterday about the Republican presidential candidates debate the previous night. I said I didn't know there was a debate.

I live in West Virginia. For all practical purposes, I don't get a vote in the primary. So I don't follow the primary campaign that much.

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For years, farmers have complained that ATV riders trespass on their property and tear up stuff. Now AEP has the same complaint. According to an article in The Point Pleasant Register, it seems ATV riders are getting into the landfill at the Mountaineer Power Plant in Mason County, W.Va., and causing some damage.

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How many big coal-fired power plants in one area is too many? That's what regulators in Ohio and West Virginia will have to consider soon, if they aren't already.

According to The Pomeroy (Ohio) Daily Sentinel, a public hearing will be held Thursday for a permit to build a new coal-fired power plant along the Ohio River between Pomeroy and Ravenswood, W.Va.

I liked this paragraph:

If the plant is built, it is said to employ 100 people, possibly create 127 jobs in other businesses and burn nearly three million tons of coal a year. Still, despite the economic prosperity predicted by some from the plant, other residents are concerned about the environmental impact of another coal-fired power plant in the area with American Electric Power's Mountaineer and Philip Sporn plants located nearby and across the Ohio River in New Haven, W.Va.

Let's do some counting. Between Ravenswood and Cheshire, Ohio, I count four big power plants already: Mountaineer and Sporn, both at New Haven, W.Va., and Gavin and Kyger Creek, both at Cheshire. Add the propose AMP-Ohio plant near Pomeroy, a new plant on the Ohio side near Ravenswood and another generating unit at Mountaineer, and you have a lot of coal being burned along a stretch of river measuring about 40 miles.

We're not counting the hydroelectric plant at the Racine Locks and Dam, also in that stretch of river.

There could be a race to get units built should regulators decide that a certain number of power plants is enough.

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This came in an e-mail. I don't think the writer wants his/her name attached to it. I will therefore use it here anonymously. The writer makes some good points.

We just got the neighborhoods cleaned up. However, concert promoters have taken it upon themselves to litter the city (phone poles, buildings and bus shelters) with not one, but sometimes FOUR concert posters. Like grafitti, when one appears, another appears and so on. Combined with unremoved yard sale, rental and party signs, some poles have six signs on them. It is illegal to post signs (of any kind) on posts (and a long list of other places). While we can’t stop people from posting, we can curtail it. We can contact the Veteran’s Memorial Field House, Civic Arena and Monkey Bar to educate their promoters. And if the posters appear, give them 48 hours to remove them. If they aren’t removed, then fine them.

It’s another one of those things we shouldn’t have to say, but we do. It’s getting out of hand. Not to mention, the litter on the poles is tomorrow’s litter on the ground.

UPDATE: The writer has given me permission to use her name. It was Stacy McChesney, president of the Highlawn Neighborhood Association and a citizen member of The Herald-Dispatch editorial board.