Power plant removal could save Cedar Lake

CEDAR RAPIDS - A forthcoming environmental cleanup at the site of Alliant Energy's oldest power plant, destroyed in the flood of June 2008, could have major implications for the recovery of long-polluted Cedar Lake.

The future of the lake as a recreational and wildlife area will depend on how Alliant, the city and other stakeholders approach the removal and cleanup of the Sixth Street Generating Station, said Dale Todd, a former Cedar Rapids parks and recreation commissioner.

“If nothing is done, Cedar Lake will become a swamp,” said Todd, who oversaw the development of the Cedar Lake Trail around the lake during his years as commissioner.

The power plant that supplied electricity and the last remaining municipal steam system in Iowa has been inoperable for nearly three years, two of them after the utility decided it would not try to restore it from the flood damage.

The plant produced steam and electricity by burning coal and natural gas. Because the plant dates back to 1888, the utility doesn't know how much contamination might be on the site, its quantities, or its location.

“It's a little different than deconstructing the ballroom at the Crowne Plaza Five Seasons,” Alliant spokesman Scott Drzycimski said. “That plant has been there for over 100 years.”

Alliant owns the 120-acre Cedar Lake north of the plant, which it leases to the city for recreational use, and several coal impoundments along Interstate 380 north of the plant. Both will be part of the cleanup process, said Tom Aller, president of Alliant's Interstate Power & Light utility.

Cedar Lake is the city's only true urban lake and one of the most visible features of Cedar Rapids to the thousands of motorists who pass over it on I- 380 daily, Todd said. It was a swampy area before 1910, when Iowa Electric Light and Power, a predecessor to Alliant, built a dam to back up the water from McLoud Run that went into a slough.

Reputation justified

The lake's reputation as a polluted waterway is justified, Todd said, but mainly due to sources other than Alliant. He said surface water runoff polluted the lake with the pesticide Chlordane and a nearby electroplating plant polluted it with heavy metals.

In some ways, Todd said, the power plant improved the water quality of the lake by adding oxygen in the process of pumping water out and into the lake. That function has now been lost, Todd said.

The lake is fed mainly by stormwater drainage from southeast Cedar Rapids, causing an accumulation of sediment that has created a small island, and will gradually fill the lake.

Todd said timing is important to a successful lake redevelopment plan because the city is acquiring properties flooded in June 2008 on the north shore of the lake that have not been restored and is making flood protection plans that could involve the lake.

The earlier the process begins, Todd said, the better the odds that federal grants for “brownfields” restoration projects can be obtained for a more complete project.

Todd said the project could include reconnecting the lake with McLoud Run, which was rerouted because the utility needed better control of the water level of the lake.

“If you have the right plan, Mother Nature cleanses itself,” Todd said.

First steps taken

Aller said Alliant has taken the first step toward removing the plant and cleaning up the site by asking the Midwest power grid authority, MISO, for permission to remove the plant.

The utility had considered constructing a natural-gas fired generating station at the site, which might have eliminated the need for a cleanup, but decided that the Sixth Street site is not the right place for such an investment, according to Drzycimski.

Alliant already has held preliminary discussions with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, which has regulatory authority over the cleanup process, Drzycimski said, and has rescinded air emissions permits for the plant.

Crews have been removing equipment and materials from the plant that do not affect any overall cleanup project or involve significant expense in recent months, Drcyzimski said.

An electric substation inside the plant that serves the north side of downtown Cedar Rapids is the last operational piece of the facility. It will be deactivated when the utility's new Downtown Industrial substation behind the Five Seasons Parkade is completed in July, Drzycimski said.

Cleanup costs

Aller said the regional grid operator could take six to eight months to rule on its request to take the plant off the grid. The Iowa Utilities Board will decide who pays for demolition and cleanup of the site, a process known as decommissioning.

Ratepayers could be required to bear a sizable portion of the unknown cost of restoring the plant site, lake and coal ponds.

The Iowa Sierra Club generally supports rapid cleanup of all contaminated utility sites, said its attorney, Wally Taylor of Cedar Rapids.

He said the group was pleased by the closing of the Sixth Street Generating Station due to the harmful impact of coal-fired power plants on air quality and climate change.