VOA标准英语2011--Coal Ash Plan Raises Fears in Missouri C

Coal consumption is increasing in many parts of the world, driven by skyrocketing energy demands in rapidly developing countries like China. But with coal comes pollution: from climate-changing carbon dioxide to coal ash, the powdery toxic¹ waste left over from burning coal to produce electricity.
In the United States, coal-fired power plants produce more than 130 million tons of coal waste each year. The debate over how to dispose of it is playing out in the small town of Labadie, Missouri where the controversy² is pitting local residents against the Midwestern utility company, Ameren.
It all started with the Labadie ladies book club back in the summer of 2009.
"Everybody was just gathering³, and somebody kind of off-handedly said, 'Oh, did you all hear that so-and-so just sold his bottom ground,'" says long-time area resident Kay Genovese. "And nobody had heard about that, and she said, 'Yeah, I heard he sold it to Ameren.'"
St. Louis Public Radio
The small town of Labadie, Missouri, is about 55 kilometers west of St. Louis.
Bottom ground is land in the floodplain of the Missouri River. Genovese says at the book club the next month, they found out another farmer had sold his land.
"And we were like, 'Oh, to Ameren again?' Three months in a row, we kept hearing about these different farmers selling their ground to Ameren."
The book club ladies started asking questions. They found out that the utility company Ameren was planning to build a 160 hectare [400 acre] coal ash landfill in the floodplain, next door to its massive power plant in Labadie.
Shift supervisor⁴ Jim Dean says, with its four huge turbines, Labadie can generate enough power to supply electricity to almost half a million homes. To do it, the place burns coal by the train load.
"Each train has about 130 cars in it. Each car holds 100 tons of coal. And we'll burn one car, 100 tons of coal, in about four minutes with all four units at full load," Dean says.
At two coal trains a day, that works out to about 10 million tons of coal a year. Approximately seven percent of that - over half a million tons - is left over as coal ash.
Ameren recycles more than half of it. The rest gets mixed with water, and sluiced⁵ out to two open ponds next to the plant. The coal ash settles out to the bottom, and the remaining water gets discharged, untreated, into the Missouri River. 
St. Louis Public Radio
Ameren has already purchased 445 hectares of agricultural land next to its power plant in Labadie and plans to build a 160-hectare coal ash landfill on the site.
Ameren's Vice⁶ President of Environmental Services, Mike Menne, says those ponds are running out of room. At a 160 hectares, the new landfill would be big enough to replace them both, and take ash from Ameren's Meramec and Rush Island plants, too.
Menne says the new landfill would have protection systems the current ponds lack. It would be double-lined to protect groundwater, and have a berm around it - about as high as a two-story building - to keep floodwaters out.
"And then it has what's referred to as a leachate collection system which is a water collection system," says Menne. "Any water that would percolate⁷ through the material is collected and sent back to the plant to be used for process water."
Even with all the new safety precautions, many area residents are worried about all that ash, and what's in it: toxic elements like arsenic⁸, chromium, and lead, which can cause cancer, developmental problems, and other serious health issues.
They're afraid those hazardous⁹ substances could wind up in groundwater or the Missouri River, and contaminate area drinking water supplies. They're also concerned about property values, and increased truck traffic. 
St. Louis Public Radio
Fourteen dedicated¹⁰ trains make the seven-day trip from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming, to bring coal to Ameren's power plant in Labadie. The plant burns two train-loads of coal every day.
The Labadie book club ladies, who first found out about Ameren's landfill plans, got organized, and gave themselves a name - the Labadie Environmental Organization - which now has close to 400 members.
One of them is Labadie resident Petra Haynes. She hopes Ameren will, as she puts it, "do the right thing" and not build a landfill in the floodplain.
"We really firmly believe that there has to be a better, safer location," she says. "We would like Ameren to really consider the safety and well-being¹¹ of their customers, rather than the bottom line."
She and other area residents have been voicing their concerns at public hearings with the local county board of commissioners¹³. The board is trying to decide whether to change county zoning regulations to allow utility waste landfills like Ameren's.
Presiding Commissioner¹² John Griesheimer says he understands why people don't want a landfill in the floodplain.
"But the bottom line is we have to put it somewhere. To be opposed to it, and have an alternative is one thing, but to be just opposed to it without giving us another option here, that's another matter, and that's what's hard for everybody to do."
Griesheimer says a final decision on the county's landfill regulations is still months away.

1 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

2 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

3 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

4 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

5 sluiced   

v.冲洗( sluice的过去式和过去分词 )；（指水）喷涌而出；漂净；给…安装水闸

参考例句：

• The sailors sluiced the deck with hoses. 水手们用水龙带冲洗甲板。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He sluiced the bath and filled it with water. 他冲洗了浴缸，然后放满了一缸水。 来自辞典例句

6 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

7 percolate   

v.过滤，渗透

参考例句：

• The rain will percolate through the soil.雨水渗入土中。
• New fashions took a long time to percolate down.新时尚要很长时间才能在大众中流行起来。

8 arsenic   

n.砒霜，砷；adj.砷的

参考例句：

• His wife poisoned him with arsenic.他的妻子用砒霜把他毒死了。
• Arsenic is a poison.砒霜是毒药。

9 hazardous   

adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的

参考例句：

• These conditions are very hazardous for shipping.这些情况对航海非常不利。
• Everybody said that it was a hazardous investment.大家都说那是一次危险的投资。

10 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

11 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

12 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

13 commissioners   

n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官

参考例句：

• The Commissioners of Inland Revenue control British national taxes. 国家税收委员管理英国全国的税收。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The SEC has five commissioners who are appointed by the president. 证券交易委员会有５名委员，是由总统任命的。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件