Potential new Alabama Power lines to a Spire liquified natural gas plant and storage facility near Coosada have neighbors almost screaming for help.
Coosada Mayor Jim Houston, councilmember Howard Goza and Henry Hassey all live on Jackson Bend Road. They said for months Alabama Power has been trying to take their property to construct a new high voltage power line to power the gas plant just outside town limits. Hassey is concerned with how close the lines are to current residences.
“They will be in the mayor’s garage, within five feet of Goza's front door,” Hassey said. “There are a couple of alternate routes that will not affect anybody on Jackson Bend Road. They could drop 100 yards to the south and affect nobody.”
Goza and Houston said Alabama Power has refused to meet with the residents as a group. Instead they are sending offers to purchase an easement to property.
“They want to steal my land,” Goza said. “They offered a few pennies to come across there. It is not enough. They still want me to pay the taxes on it.”
Alabama Power media relations representative Joey Blackwell said in the transmission line routing process, Alabama Power seeks to develop a feasible route by considering a variety of elements pertinent to the line's construction, operation and maintenance.
“Alabama Power considered and evaluated multiple routing options based on criteria including, but not limited to, the connection point, the location of the customer substation, the total distance of the route, the number of angle structures and the need for guying supports,” Blackwell said. “Additionally, we considered accessibility and proximity to existing structures, residences, and other infrastructure.”
Alabama Power said the feasibility of the transmission line route was field verified through suitability studies and a ground survey.
“The transmission line route does follow an existing APC distribution line for a portion of the route along Jackson Bend Road, and new transmission line easements will be required from the landowners,” Blackwell said.
Representatives from Spire, Jason Mills and Eric Rigsby, met with town officials and residents last week to tell them of their plans for the facility. Mills has worked there for about 20 years and said the facility has been in its current location since 1972. Currently the LNG plant is down but not the storage competent of the facility.
“We take in gas at times when gas is cheaper in the summer and we liquify it and store it in the tank,” Mills said. “It helps levelize pricing.”
The gas is chilled to cryogenic temperatures. The process makes gas 600 times smaller. When needed, such as when gas prices rise or the supply is low, the gas is allowed to warm up and expand. It then feeds distribution lines to the Montgomery area. Recently the plant has accepted LNG from other plants to store as it had capacity and prices were down because its cooling system is out of operation.
Currently Spire is in the design phase of changing out the gas-powered air conditioning system used to chill the gas to an electric one. It is a system that needs a 4,500 horsepower motor to drive. Spire has already constructed a substation to supply it.
Some residents asked Mills and Rigsby about rumors of shipping the gas overseas or creating a power plant at the site.
“Gas from Coosada does not go down to Mobile,” Rigsby said. “Gas goes to Montgomery, not overseas. We are not running lines to Mobile. We can’t even supply to Mobile.”
The one consistent point the Coosada residents made with the Spire representatives was the gas company had the ability to influence Alabama Power, especially since the power company refused to meet with the residents as a group.
“Alabama Power is coming in here and acting like nobody matters,” Houston said.
The mayor thanked Mills and Rigsby for meeting with the officials and residents explaining about what is going on at the plant.
“We are here to speak with you,”Rigsby said. “We want to be members of the community. We are not just some big company that doesn’t care about anybody.”
They said the refurbished plant would be online in 2026 and plans for the plant and its future have been openly discussed with Spire executives. Rigsby said all conversations were the plant was just going through a change from gas to electric.
Many of the residents thanked Mills and Rigsby for speaking with them. But they also encouraged them to pressure Alabama Power to come to the table with residents as well.
Resident Jason Cole said he is thinking of challenging things through public awareness and possible lawsuits. He has researched numerous websites and even the EPA. His research shows an increased chance of cancer near the LNG plant and storage facility. He said those within one mile of the plant have a 97% higher chance of getting cancer from air toxins than anyone else in the nation. Those within 10 miles are 93% higher. Cole also said Alabama Power isn’t considering the environment in the placement of the new power lines and encouraged Spire to bring the power company to the table.
“Alabama Power has refused to mitigate the wetlands on my property,” Cole said. “I’m going the environmental route publicly. Does Spire want to get caught up in that?’”
