## r

For over the last I00 years we have had a carbon based economy. For the next I00 years we will have a carbon constrained economy. Then we might have to live without carbon fuels at all. Without constraints on how much Carbon we put into the atmosphere, we will not only run out ofthis resource, we will be unable to breathe our air and drink our water. Iknow, as I live within a mile ofthe Coal Fired Power Plant that has been the center ofcontroversy since two citizens produced a report showing that the plant was producingparticulant matterthat was harmful to citizens. Why did they suspect that their was a harmful substance being emitted from the Potomac Generating Plant, once owned 

### by Mirant and now owned by the GenOnCorporation. Because every morning they woke up to dust on their 

### windowsills or on their cars and wondered where 

### it carne from.
The source was obvious, andprobablyrrom some vantage points in OCyou can see the stacks that rrom 1949 have generatedpowerfor ourregion, but have also been a powerfulgenerator ofpollutants. The plant said that they did not have large particles, and they did not have small particles, without measuring the particles in between. But the obviousness that the plant emitted somethingwas on the stacks itself. Akind ofskirt to catch the particlesbefore they fell backinto the plant. Itwas not until1989 that they were granted a special use permit, as before they had been a non-conforming use, not even regulated. AfterElizabethChimento and Poul Hertel'sreport came out,there have been steady efforts to close the plant since 2004. Their permitshave been attempted tobe revoked, and their ability to operate limited. In 20071 spoke in rront ofthe State Department ofEnvironmental Quality which was having hearings on how the plant should beregulated, and a solution was found. Build smokestacks that were higher so the plumes would blow farther,justfar enough to be outside Alexandria. Then the citizens might stop complaining. Thankfullythese taller stackswere neverbuilt.

But this one plant has become the posterchildfor why there is no such thingas clean coal. You could put a chemical like Tron in, but that also might have bad effects, and has notbeen studied enough. You can use steam to catch the particles, but this was neverimplemented. And there are two other parts of running a coal plant that you cannot see rrom Washington OC, but have an affect on otherparts ofthe 

### country. First the coal has to come from somewhere, and probably comes from mountaintop removal in WestVirginia which are ruining streams and valleys, which might be where we get our oxygen to offset carbon in the future. Secondly,coal does not bum clean through but leaves ash, and this ash is put in Ash 

### pits somewhere far outside ofAlexandria. And Iam sure the disastrous ash 

### pit spill in Tennessee a couple Christmas's ago has already been mentioned.
So 

### ifwe are not polluting our waterways and our air when we remove the coal, or when we burn it, we risk damage when we put the waste in an ash pit. Coal is not the energy source ofthe future. Injust a few short months, thanks to the SierraClub, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and all the people in Alexandria who worked on this, ourcoal fired powerplant will close. But all that work, and the clean air we will regain will be negated ifnew coal fired powerplants open in Wise County, in SurreyCounty, on the beautiful Isle ofWight. l would rather see wind turbines on the mountains, ifthey are still there, and across our seas, ifthey are still clean, then see one more coal fired power plant built. Thejobs ofthe future should be in clean technology, and there is no such thing as clean coal. Boyd Walker 1307King St. AlexandriaVA 22314