It would be the first coal-powered electrical plant built in Colorado for 20 years and might pollute Eastern Plains skies in order to export enough power to keep California from reverting to the Dark Ages. Environmental critics of coal say they probably can't stop the plant from opening by 2007, but global warming and the heated debate over Western power give them a better forum to object than when the last generation of coal plants came online. Both will bring jobs. One will bring environmental impacts and one won't. Tri-State says the time is right for a new coal plant because natural gas has become an expensive and volatile way to make electricity, while new technology has cleaned up coal.
Coal plants are more expensive, but the electricity they generate still ends up far cheaper.
We'd incorporate the most stringent environmental controls that exist. Tri-State will have a friendly reception when it seeks permits from Colorado. Gov. Bill Owens has pledged to support coal and other plants to keep the state from sliding into California's current electricity shortage. And while environmentalists warn that on hot, stagnant summer days, the Las Animas plant would be running full throttle and dropping pollution onto Bent County, southeastern Colorado community leaders are hungry for the plant and its big price tag. Her group is working with Tri-State and local officials to ensure that all the land, water, rail and other building blocks are ready.