It is a grossly false assumption that Mingo Wildlife Refuge is in danger from the proposed Prairie State Energy Campus coal-fueled power plant that's located near Marissa, Ill., about 85 miles or more from Mingo. In fact, if the power plant were to be built within 10 or 20 miles of Mingo the wildlife refuge would still be perfectly safe. A recent article in the Daily Dunklin Democrat, Friday, October 7, 2005, entitled "Mingo Wildlife Refuge is among 10 most endangered," was hawked to thousands of similar news outlets by the "Defenders of Wildlife," one of the many organizations that have been created for the express purpose of keeping the United States from using its abundant natural resources to power our economy. Their high-sounding use of the words "defenders" and "wildlife" are designed to sympathetically attract those of us who are true nature lovers. However, a more accurate name to describe the goals of those propaganda machines would be, "Defenders of Arab Oil Interests," or, "Supporters of Foreign Slave Labor."

The information buried in the middle of the Mingo article gives us just enough truthful information to keep the politically insightful reader interested: "Studies by both Peabody [energy corp.] and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency determined the plant will have no adverse [viability?] impact on Mingo." One should also observe that the factual statement that the State of Illinois has granted "air and mining" permits for the Prairie State Energy Campus was buried deep in the piece. The "Defenders of Wildlife" know that most people don't get much beyond reading the headline, so they lie in the headline, and approximate the truth way down deep in the article. Permits for power plants (and new refineries) are nearly impossible to come by, so when state and federal agencies grant those permits, that's "news." The headline could have been, "Mingo Wildlife Refuge is safe."

When one considers the history of coal powered plants, and coal burning home heating units, the city of St. Louis in the 1930's, and throughout the wartime boom of the 40's, comes to mind. Every household, power plant, locomotive (diesel was just emerging), office building, school, and hospital in the city, and the countryside around it, were burning millions of tons of coal per year. Archives from the "Post Dispatch" of the time tell us that well dressed businessmen, if their work often took them in and out of the streets, had to change shirts two or three times a day. It was also reported that one sometimes could not see across downtown streets. And yet, Forest Park, and the riverside parks and woodlands that abound in the immediate St. Louis area, including fish and wildlife diversity in areas close to St. Louis (Meramec and LaBarque Creek watersheds), not only survived, they grew ever larger trees, and more bountiful flowering shrubs and plants. And Mingo, a hundred or so miles to the south, as the crow flies, also thrived. Mingo continued to grow and evolve into the wonderful natural area that it is today. One should remember that Mingo was also surrounded by huge amounts of coal smoke and soot from the bordering farms, towns, and small cities, and their coal powered railroad traffic. For a hundred years huge amounts of coal smoke wafted over Mingo with apparently no adverse alteration of its natural state? Mingo and St. Louis area woodlands, swamps, and lakes, thrived during the "smokiest" and "dirtiest" times of coal burning.

We should have all electric homes, trains, and as many "electrical" factories as possible, today, if we are seriously concerned for the environment. The workhorse of America's electric power sector is the modern clean burning ("scrubbed") coal-fired power plant. But, "eco-nuts" are fighting against the use of coal, no matter how clean and safe, with half-truths, all out lies, and counterfeit science. Why? Follow the dollars. Who profits?

Today, modern coal combustion plants account for more than half of the nations' electric power generation. Because those plants burn plentiful "home grown"coal, we American consumers benefit from some of the most affordable power rates in the world. The real news is that clean-burning technology, developed for the decontaminated combustion of coal, has been remarkably advanced in the past 25 years. And in the future we will have still more advanced "hybrid" plants. They will use "gasifier-combustibility" combinations that the Department of Energy believes will lower the present cost of electricity by some 25 percent. By the way, I've been researching this subject for a few weeks now, and I'm very grateful for the help and the information that the U. S. Department of Energy has sent to me. I am also indebted to the Missouri Conservation Commission's hugely informative and beautifully produced publication, the "Missouri Conservationist." One is also especially obliged to thank the various departments that manage the States of Illinois and Ohio's forests and natural resources for their printed information, and for their guidance through their web sites. The Ohio experience is particularly telling, and compelling, when it comes to the environmentally safe use of coal fueled power plants.

More than 90 percent of Ohio's electrical generation comes from coal powered generation, 7 percent from nuclear, 1 percent from natural gas, and the rest from small amounts of different resources (Source: US Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration). Ohio produced 21 million tons of coal last year. While burning enough coal to provide more than 90 percent of its electrical power, Ohio's 7.9 million acres of forested land (30 percent of the state) have flourished. And, it should be noted that those Ohio forests contain more than 300 tree and shrub species, and several endangered species of plants and animals, all of which are flourishing. These facts are not created from a false premised "computer model."(Now boys, that means if you feed the computer with false information, and because the computer is a dumb logical beast, yawl'll get crap out of it when it squats to "think.").

Despite the protestations of groups such as "The Defenders of Wildlife," and the kidnaped Sierra Club and the shanghaied Audubon Society, modern coal powered electrical generation is not harmful to the environment. Coal generation of electrical power is environmentally safe.

Finally, our wildlife refuges are generally unpolluted, except on those days when eco-nut- pagans hold their annual "Earth Day" rallies. They always leave acres of littered cans and bottles and plastic cups, and a load of their babies' dirty diapers, at least one assumes the abandoned "nasties" belong to the babies? Kenneth Kinchen

Kenneth Kinchen is an independent writer with a background in international business and foreign service contracting.