No coal combustion waste in Logan County

The Viper Mine, based in Logan-Sangamon County, has applied for a rezoning of agricultural land to extraction. Arch Coal wants to build a second coal slurry impoundment on this land.

We are pleading for a no vote from the Logan County Board.

This is not the appropriate place for this waste. This land is situated on top of the water supply for Elkhart and the surrounding community. It is adjacent to the scenic and historic Elkhart Hill. This proposed impoundment will forever alter the landscape of this area.

Coal combustion waste has to go somewhere. Logan County is not the appropriate place to dispose of the refuse generated by other Illinois communities. Power plants across the state need to get rid of their coal combustion waste. New Environmental Protection Agency legislation pending will not apply to coal mines that take the waste.

Arch Coal has shifted the focus to their threat of loss of mining jobs. Viper Mine has a lot of coal left to extract here, and they will get it. The price of coal is down, and power plants move to abundant natural gas as their fuel supply. Arch Coal stock price has dropped, at this writing, 30 percent in 2014.

Will the next owner protect Logan County? How about this global company comes up with a better solution for their American employees — a new industry right here in Logan County, of new energy technology jobs, to take them in to the future?

Vern and Mona Maas

Springfield