New industries for towns are always a good thing, right? More jobs for locals, a re-invigoration for local businesses, attracting new people. All of those things sound great, but what if the industry in question is coal, and what if its arrival fundamentally changes what a town has to offer?
That’s the case with the Mississippi Power carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) plant located in Kemper County, Mississippi. The plant is part of a new wave of “clean coal” facilities that promise to reduce carbon emissions and capture and contain many of the chemicals they produce. The first commercial CCS plant only went live in October of 2014, but studies suggest that the new plants could have a significant impact on the future of energy collection and creation.
But the production of the plant has taken a toll on the local community. Changes, both physical and emotional, have come to residents who have lived in the county for years.
There’s not much left for Correro to do now, except to keep speaking out, writing letters, and decrying the fact that she and her neighbors are collateral damage. When this thing first started, she says, “One of my children said, ‘You know, mother, you have always been in control. You have lost control.’ And I said, ‘You’re right.’”
Read the entire saga of the power plant and the community it is changing by Sara Bernard over on Grist.
