By Jacque Day
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkms/local-wkms-958428.mp3
Paducah, Ky. – A controversial zoning change request drew 200 people to a meeting of the McCracken County Planning Commission Wednesday night. Industry has targeted 400 acres that include Carneal, Heady, Tucker, and Metropolis Landing roads for rezoning from Rural Residential to Heavy Industrial. Southern Coal Handling and landowner Four Rivers Terminal Land, LLC, want to construct a coal terminal. The St. Louis based Secure Energy has an eye on the site for a coal-to-liquid fuel plant. Jacque Day attended the meeting, and brings us this report.
TRANSCRIPT
Air, water, noise and light pollution: these topics dominated the public meeting. More than a dozen attorneys, environmental activists, public officials, entrepreneurs and regular citizens challenged petition. Only company officials and the attorney's representing those companies spoke in favor of the petition at the meeting. Retired Illinois judge Don Lowery traveled to Paducah from his home in Golconda to ask for a continuance. "I did not receive all the material that was filed as late as two days ago. And what I say to you is simply this. If we had all the material, we could make an informed decision about whether to oppose or support this, and that's our position."
The commissioners decided to continue the meeting. It went on for three hours. Lowery took to the podium several times. "There is no such as clean coal [applause]."
Metropolis, Illinois Mayor Billy McDaniel cites coal dust as a concern. "The dust that will be carried across that river is going to come directly across onto our riverfront. We as a city have hundreds of millions of dollars invested in that riverfront. Harrah's Casino sits very very close to that river and bridge. They alone have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the casino, and a hundred million dollars on a hotel."
Harrah's Senior Vice President Mark Osterhaus also appealed to the commission. "We have 700 employees that work at Harrah's. 300 of them live in McCracken County, and we want to make sure that we protect the jobs of the large tourist destination that is our facility."
While Illinois residents would be upwind from pollutants emitted from the facilities, many Kentucky residents live near the proposed construction site some, like Teresa Cash, as close as across the street. "We had a plan, as a family. So if this does get rezoned, I really don't know what we'll do."
Cash lives on Heady Road with her husband Chad and two children. She says she's been in that neighborhood her entire life. They'd planned to grow old in their home. Compounding the matter, she says, is that her nine-year-old son suffers from asthma. "It is a very scary situation as a parent to have your child scream in the middle of the night that he can't breathe. So for the coal terminal to come, my son would be isolated to the inside of the house."
Mike Fitz, director of business development for Southern Coal Handling, says the coal handling facility would have a positive economic impact on the region. "According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, unemployment in McCracken County has nearly doubled since 2007. It's risen from 4.5 percent to nearly 9 percent. What does that mean in the number of jobs? More than 1,300 jobs have been lost in McCracken County over the last four years."
He says they expect to hire about 150 individuals to help with construction, and once that's done, about 50 full-time permanent operational employees with expected earnings of approximately $60,000 per year. Company representatives showed testimonial videos, including supporting statements from the mayors of Danville, Illinois and Calvert City, Kentucky, where similar coal facilities operate.
Paducah attorney Mark Whitlow, who represents the industries as well as the seven landowners requesting the zoning change, has lived in this area his entire life. He says the coal terminal will amount to a $20 million dollar investment, and the coal-to-liquid facility, a billion. "I would like to see us have some real economic growth, and we need some manufacturing jobs. I'm all for the service industry and service jobs, but the wages are so low, and these projects will be good for the county."
But Dianna Riddick, an attorney who chairs the local chapter of the Sierra Club, says the trade-off isn't worth it. Riddick cites the water resources of this region. "We are one of the most water-rich areas in the United States. Big outside corporations need our water. These corporations need our rivers to float their coal. They need our water for their steam. They need our water in the aquifer to pump in their carbon dioxide. We need our water clean for our children, for the tourism industry, and for our future."
Many more people spoke to the commission, including Eddie Jones of the Paducah office of Boehl, Stopher & Graves, who argues that heavy industry zoning would be an "incompatible land use."
Teresa Cash asked the commissioners to consider things on a more personal level. "I would just like to ask them, would they want to live across from a coal terminal? Would they raise their families and their children in an area that's heavy industrial across a single-lane road? I just want them to look at the situation and think, What if this was me and my family on Heady Road? Would you want to live across the street from something like this?"
If the property is rezoned, SCH business development director Mike Fitz says they'll be able to proceed to the next steps, due diligence and permitting. The companies will not commit finances until they know the zoning change decision. Until that decision comes, everyone is in a holding pattern. But that doesn't mean they're sitting still.