Letters to the Editor
Coal power plant

Dear Editor:
The proposal by Wisconsin Dairyland Power to build a modern day dinosaur as a coal-burning power plant in Mona, IA, a rural community in Mitchell county, near the Minnesota border, not only sickens me, but waves numerous red danger flags as to the lack of regard Dairyland Power has for the land or its residents.

Mona, IA is a dot on the map with a church and Pleasant Hill Cemetery. Many in Mona are lifetime residents, as were their parents and grandparents. We have chosen to live in our community because of the quality of life we have here, surrounded by clear skies, trees and protected wildlife.

Several weeks ago representatives from Dairyland Power descended like locust upon the community of Mona, to gobble up residents' land for the construction of a coal-burning power plant. Although publicly saying they want to be "good neighbors," Dairyland Power wants their soot-spewing coal plant built around our cemetery, like a snake wrapped around its prey. Imagine a funeral for your loved one at the graveside of a cemetery with plumes of pollution wafting from gigantic smokestacks above you, the roar of coal trains whipping past you and waste fly-ash blowing onto the graves and in your face. Such disrespect is what Dairyland Power considers being a good neighbor.

If the power plant is built in this quiet community, that's home to a wildlife sanctuary, a nesting place for bald eagles and also the final resting place of many generations of community residents, the habitat for humans, wildlife and the sanctity of a cemetery will have been desecrated.

If this pollution-producing eyesore is constructed, people for many miles around would lose not only the quality of life we value, but our children and grandchildren would be subjected to health risks and hazards of heavy train and truck traffic, water, air and land pollution. Once the true effects of this project would be realized, it would be too late. We, as well as generations to come, would be forced to live with the ugly and dangerous consequences.

Faye Strouf
St. Ansgar, IA 50472