Letter: Coal plants will use precious water

Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2007 | 7:10 a.m.

Thank you for starting to inform your readers, and all the people who live in this part of the country, of the real danger to all of us if even one of these coal-fired generating plants gets built.

When the coal companies are confronted with this data, their response has been: The new plants have better technology in place to reduce the amounts of pollutants released into the atmosphere. They are cleaner-burning plants.

The problem is that this is a small truth. Yes, the plants are cleaner burning, if the right technology is installed. But they are still major polluters of the air and water, even with the best technology available.

Now you need to tell the public how much water they are going to need to run these plants. Every day there is a story about how scarce water is becoming. Why are we going to waste it on these coal-fired power plants?

Coal, proponents say, is a cheap source of energy. But when you add up all the costs to the public, that statement is not true.

Kenneth R. Hamm Sr., Las Vegas