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Lincoln Daily News publishes letters to the editor as they are received.

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Letters to the Editor
Lincoln Daily News
601 Keokuk St.
Lincoln, IL  62656

Letters must include the writer's name, telephone number, and postal address or e-mail address (we will not publish address or phone number information). Lincoln Daily News reserves the right to edit letters to reduce their size or to correct obvious errors. Lincoln Daily News reserves the right to reject any letter for any reason. Lincoln Daily News will publish as many acceptable letters as space allows.


Concerned over short- and long-term effects of plant     Send a link to a friend

To the editor:

You want facts about the location of the ethanol plant. The fact is there are no coal-burning plants in operation as of yet to know any long-term effects the plant may have concerning the pollution that will occur, the noise the plant will make, the amount of black dust that will come out of the plant. Is it worth the risk to our town to maybe wait and see how bad the effects might be for us after it is built in this location?

I don't want to see if the new technology is going to be safe. I think the risk from the propane on-site, the gasoline on-site to mix with the ethanol, the anhydrous ammonia on-site, the limestone on-site, and whatever else is needed to make the ethanol, is a danger of explosion. Even with everything contained inside, accidents do happen. These products WILL explode.

The Lena plant, which The Courier ran on the front page as a "poster child" for ethanol, has been in the news lately. The plant is being sued because the residents can smell and can hear the plant. They were told the same thing we were told: You will not hear us or smell us. The residents of Lena have found out differently. They are now suing the plant. That is a fact. We want to prevent this plant from being built too close to Lincoln to harm the residents of Lincoln.

The new technology of combining a coal-burning facility to make ethanol is brand-new. Three such plants are being built in other places, but none are running yet to know what the health risks are to the communities they are near. Do we want to find out the hard way that a combination like this is dangerous, with it sitting so close to town?

[to top of second column in this letter]

Other letters have compared this plant to LDC, Stetson's and Lehn & Fink. Hello, these places are all closed. They were in operation and running before the EPA and other state and federal requirements were ever an issue. Stetson's made dishes; Lehn & Fink made products for your body and household use. I don't think they had the combination of ingredients on their property that the ethanol plant will be exposing us to.

It was stated on the Channel 5 interview that the coal would be coming in on trucks. We will be spending the money generated by the plant to repair Old 66 and Nicholson Road. Other roads may be neglected because the funds for roads will stay on the north side of town to repair the damage of close to 150 semis a day, 365 days a year. It was said by someone that 100 trucks come to Eaton a day. Eaton was asked, and the person who mans the booth at the parking entrance says 50-55 trucks come in a day, counting UPS and FedEx trucks. There are some facts for you.

Now I would like to thank the board members who have been attending our meetings. They are taking the time to find out the facts by listening to both sides. I would like to invite the rest of the board members to come and find out the facts from our side as well. You would be doing a better job for the people you represent if you took the time to find out all the facts before you vote on the location of this plant.

Sharon Jones
Lincoln

(Posted April 26, 2005)

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Comment on article about Lincoln racing          Send a link to a friend

To the editor:

The Lincoln racer was my grandpa, and I just wanted to tell you it was a very awesome article [and] to tell you thanks from the whole Well family.

Tyler Well

(Posted April 26, 2005)

Click here to send a note to the editor about this letter.

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