Iowa joins global warming lawsuit against giant power companies
Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Iowa --Jul. 22--DES MOINES, Iowa
Iowa joined forces with seven states and New York City Wednesday in filing a federal lawsuit against five giant power companies charging carbon dioxide from their electric generating plants is contributing to harmful climate changes.
Iowa, Connecticut, California, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont,
Wisconsin and New York City filed the lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of New York. New York state officials are leading the
legal charge, Miller said.
Targeted in the suit are American Electric Power Co., The Southern Co., the
Tennessee Valley Authority, Xcel Energy and Cinergy Corp. No Iowa power
companies are named in the lawsuit.
Miller said dozens of power plants owned by the companies emit more than 650
million tons of carbon dioxide combined annually -- or about 25 percent of all
the CO2 released by the nation's power industry. Power plants, he said, account
for 40 percent of the country's total carbon dioxide emissions.
"We think there is a rational basis to single out these five companies
because of the large pollution that they have (emitted)," Miller said.
That carbon dioxide, according to scientists, collects in the lower
atmosphere and traps in solar radiation that otherwise would vent into space.
The resulting "greenhouse" effect is blamed for rising average
temperatures worldwide and erratic weather conditions.
The eight attorneys general -- all Democrats -- and New York City officials
want a federal court order forcing the companies to cut their emissions by 1 to
3 percent each year. They argue technology is available to make such reductions
economically feasible.
Elwynn Taylor, Iowa State University's climatologist, appeared with Miller
Wednesday and argued that inaction could carry dire economic consequences.
Taylor argued weather fluctuations he blames on global warming are slicing
the state's average corn crop by 16 to 18 bushels per acre. That loss adds up to
$480 million yearly, Taylor said.
But the power companies contend they are being unfairly targeted.
"We don't feel lawsuits are the way to set energy policy," said
Tiffany Gilstrap, a spokeswoman for The Southern Co., an Atlanta-based firm that
operates five utility companies. "This is not the way to deal with an
important issue."
Gilstrap said Southern already has cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 93
million tons since the mid-1990s while the company's newest generating plants
are powered by cleaner-burning natural gas.
Paul Adelmann, a spokesman for Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy, contends his
company is in the process of slicing its CO2 emissions by 12 million tons over
the next five years. The company, he said, already is the nation's
second-leading supplier of wind-generated electricity and plans to triple its
capacity by 2012.
"We are very proud of our environmental record," Adelmann said.
Melissa McHenry, a spokeswoman for Columbus, Ohio-based American Electric
Power argues the company already is in the process of trimming its emission by
10 percent by 2006.
-----
To see more of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, or to subscribe to the
newspaper, go to http://www.wcfcourier.com
.
(c) 2004, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Iowa. Distributed
by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. For information on republishing this
content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax
(213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com. SO, XEL, CIN, AEP,