Oct. 23--Danville Utilities is one of 81 municipal partners in an electricity generating coal-powered Ohio plant in the planning stages by American Municipal Power -- a plant the Sierra Club now claims will not bring the savings originally anticipated by the partners.

During a news conference Thursday, Sierra Club spokesperson Nachy Kanfer said analysts have shown costs for the plant, which began the planning process in 2006, have risen while the need energy has decreased.

Kanfer said a "more secure path" for the partners would be to cancel the plant and "invest aggressively" in cleaner energy sources, such as hydroelectric, wind energy and using waste heat to create energy.

Mark Kresowick, of the Sierra Club's "Beyond Coal" campaign called the project expensive and risky, because it does not factor in current legislation for clean energy.

Kresowick was asked if he felt trends in energy costs would remain on a downswing caused by the reces-sion.

"The recession will not go on forever," he responded. "But some trends are not short-term," citing Ohio legislation that calls for reductions in electricity demands.

Andrew Flock, a city council member from Painesville, Ohio, joined the teleconference saying he had been against the plant from the beginning, though his city is a member of the AMP project.

"I am not supportive of this program at all," Flock said. "A 50-year contract is ludicrous. I don't see us, in the next 50 years, needing as much coal."

The conference call ended with Kanfer asking all members of the project going to AMP's annual meeting next week to letting the company know the project is "too expensive and ask to cancel the project."

Joe King, Danville Deputy City Manager and former head of Danville Utilities, said he has seen the Sierra Club's report, but doesn't agree with it.

King said the new plant will be better prepared for various environmental controls, and will be able to incorporate any new environmental requirements as legislation calls for them.

He also said the Sierra Club's figures on energy costs are based on falling energy costs due to the current recession, and the AMP partnership's goal is to have long-term price stability.

"We have businesses doing less business now, so demand is lower than normal," King said. "But the reduction in demand for electricity will not continue."

King said he would like to see increased hydroelectric generation for the region, but that coal continues to be this region's best choice for its electricity baseload, because other forms of energy -- like wind, hydro or solar power -- cannot generate power around the clock, all year long.

The 50-year contract is the city's best way to control prices long-term, King said -- and projections indicate Danville residents will save 10 to 20 percent over the cost of buying energy at market rate prices.

"I have not seen anything to cause us to get out of the project," King said.

Kent Carson, senior director of communications for AMP, said the Sierra Club's warning of reduced need for power generation was not true for the communities involved in the project, because they are all at the mercy of a fluctuation market.

"(The plant) is not being built for growth, it's being built because our members are currently overexposed to market prices," Carson said. "This will be power they own and control."

The plant will be fitted with the latest technology to "scrub" emissions the plant generates, and is planning to install carbon dioxide scrubbers, as soon as all the testing is done -- including what can be done with the carbon dioxide once it's captured.

"We'll make it carbon-capture ready, and when the technology is ready, we'll add it," Carson said.

The Sierra Club claims to be the country's "oldest, largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization." It was formed in 1892.

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