"Economic developers are pushing for Arkansas to allow SWEPCO to build a coal burning power plant in Hempstead County," says Ragan Sutterfield, a writer, business consultant and a farmer who lives in Little Rock.

"At the same time that many in Congress and prominent NASA scientists are calling for a moratorium on coal burning power plants, Arkansans are about to greet a new one in our southeast corner," Sutterfield says in an article for the Arkansas Forum.

"We weren't, of course, SWEPCO's first choice," he says. "They tried to place their plant on nine other sites before they settled on Hempstead County. The residents and governments of all of the other potential sites before Hempstead County understandably said, 'no thanks.' They understood that the whole reason for building the plant now is the get it grandfathered in under any new bills that would ban this increasingly antiquated form of power generation."

"In welcoming a new coal burning power plant and other polluting technologies of the industrial age, Arkansas is acting not unlike a third world country," Sutterfield states. "We are accepting a dirty industry that other states don't want, in order to provide a few jobs and increase our tax base. But the problem with third world economics is that it keeps you third world. People who are on the cutting edge of new technologies, new businesses, and industries with a future don't want to live in the wasteland of the old economy."

"Arkansas doesn't need to accept the rejected industries of other states," Sutterfield adds. "We need to create an attitude toward business, industry and innovation that will point us toward the future. At the same time that the state has been discussing the SWEPCO plant, a Danish owned windmill blade factory was built in Little Rock that will employee over a thousand people in five years, far more than SWEPCO. This is an industry with a future and Arkansas needs to work hard to attract more such industries to the state."

"Governor Beebe has worked hard to bring more jobs to Arkansas and to keep college graduates here. This is why it makes sense for the state to ban the construction of new coal burning power plants," Sutterfield concludes. "More dirty industries are only going to perpetuate a dynamic that encourages the best and brightest to leave and keep many of those who stay stuck in the cycles of a depressed economy."

Economic developers are pushing for Arkansas to allow SWEPCO to build a coal burning power plant in Hempstead county despite congress and prominent NASA scientists calls for a moratorium on the plants.

In welcoming a new coal burning power plant, Arkansas is acting like a third world country by accepting a dirty industry that other states don't want, in order to provide a few jobs and increase our tax base. But the problem with third world economics is that it keeps you third world. People who are on the cutting edge of new technologies, businesses, and industries with a future don't want to live in the wasteland of the old economy.

Arkansas doesn't need to accept the rejected industries of other states. We need to create an attitude toward business, industry and innovation that will point us toward the future.

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