The City Development Board today rejected a proposal for the annexation of 345 acres to build a 750-megawatt coal plant east of Waterloo.  Opponents of the plant are calling the decision a “major victory.”

The area under review contains the property of Merle Bell whose family has farmed the same 40 acres for over a century.

Carole Yates of the Cedar Prairie Group of the Sierra Club said, “It was clear that this annexation was not in the public interest.”  Sierra Club organizer Mark Kresowik added, “This is the beginning of the end for LS Power in Iowa.”

New Jersey-based LS Power is the company behind the coal plant project, called Elk Run Energy Station.

The Sierra Club and Mt. Vernon non-profit law firm Plains Justice filed briefs against the proposal.

Video of Plains Justice lawyer Carrie La Seur available below the fold.
In this video, Carrie La Seur of Plains Justice, talks about some of the reasons she gave up practicing law at a private firm and started doing environmental justice work.

She spoke in front of about 500 people gathered at a Sept. 9 rally on Merle Bell’s farm.