June 6, 2010

Jeff Haseltine, Guest
Abilene Reporter-News

In chess, a pawn sacrifice can be good for the cause. But it’s bad for the pawn.

And Abilene is just a pawn in the high-stakes chess game between the coal industry and the New York based Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).

Tenaska was quick to trumpet their recent agreement with the EDF: Tenaska’s plant "will contain equipment designed to capture at least 85 percent of the carbon dioxide (CO2)" and the EDF will withdraw its opposition to the air quality permit.

The EDF is willing to gamble — using our water — that the yet-to-be-tested carbon capture technology will, against serious odds, turn out to be an effective stopgap measure in reducing fossil fuel emissions and slowing global warming. And, of course, Tenaska is quite willing to play the game if it will make their air permit application process go smoother and their profits show up sooner.

I’m all for noble causes, but this move isn’t good for Abilene. If you really are a dyed-in-the-wool climate change activist, you might have reason for supporting the Tenaska experiment just to see if there’s any hope for this unproven technology.

But if you don’t believe in global warming, it doesn’t make sense to surrender two million gallons per day of your own community’s water for the next fifty years in the name of climate change science — which is exactly what the EDF wants us to do.

Whichever side of the global warming debate you’re on, are you willing to pump away that much of our future strategic water either to help the Environmental Defense Fund see a test of carbon capture technology or to benefit Tenaska by pumping profits back to their headquarters in Nebraska?

Just like a pawn on a chessboard, Abilene is under pressure from both sides. Tenaska paid for a local study that they are using to wave “pie in the sky" economic promises in the face of our business community, and the EDF is seeking to calm down local environmentalists by sending word from their Park Avenue offices: “Let’s give it a test."

Unlike the lowly pawn, though, we have the right to choose whether or not to be a part of this match. We can and we should say no to the water contract, no to Tenaska, and no to the Environmental Defense Fund’s experiment. When the stakes are 50 years’ worth of scarce water, the people who actually live here can’t afford to play games.

Jeff Haseltine is associate dean of Arts and Sciences at Abilene Christian University, and has lived with his family in Abilene for over 20 years.

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