The Sierra Club of Iowa is joining other environmental groups in calling for the Omaha Public Power District to close its coal-fired power plant north of Omaha. The groups claim pollution from the plant is responsible for 14 deaths in the area every year, as well as 22 heart attacks and 240 asthma attacks. O-P-P-D vice president Tim Burke says the plant is running within all guidelines. “We are within all operating parameters of the EPA,” Burke says. “Obviously, with the Department of Environmental Quality and the state of Nebraska and with the city of Omaha, we essentially have been within all operating limits.” 

He says the plant, just across the Missouri River from Iowa, is under constant surveillance. Burke says, “It’s really important that there are specific monitors that are managed by Douglas County (Nebraska) Health near the plant that measure ambient air quality and those ambient air quality measurements are well below the national ambient air quality standards.” 

The Sierra Club of Iowa is working with the Clean Air Task Force and the Malcolm X Foundation in demanding the plant’s closure. “We’re not going to shut that plant down,” Burke says, “but I will tell you that the EPA is looking at other regulations in the future that may require us to look at changes in that plant, so we are evaluating what those changes may look like.” 

The north Omaha coal-fired plant isn’t used much, Burke says, as it’s essentially a reserve plant for high-peak usage times during the summer. Once the idled Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant is running again, he says the coal plant will be used even less.

(Radio Iowa)

Two people were transported to Mercy Hospital in Council Bluffs early this (Monday) morning, after the motorcycle they were riding tried to avoid hitting a deer on Interstate 29, about one-mile south of the Crescent exit. The Iowa State Patrol says the accident happened at around 1:10-a.m.  The cycle, a 2006 Kawasaki driven by 37-year old Jeffrey Allen Walker, of Council Bluffs, was traveling south on I-29, when a deer entered the roadway.

The Patrol says a group of motorcyclists were traveling on the road. Two of them managed to miss the deer, but Walker couldn’t avoid the animal and laid his cycle down on its side. A passenger on the bike, 36-year old Megan Sue Walker, of Council Bluffs, was thrown from the cycle. Jeff Walker remained pinned beneath the machine, but was freed without mechanical means. Both riders were wearing their helmets. They were transported to the hospital by Crescent Rescue. Both persons suffered cuts and bruises. Megan Walker also suffered from an injured collarbone.

(Updated 10:30-a.m. with injury report)

An unknown number of persons were injured during a single-vehicle rollover accident Sunday afternoon, in Adams County. The Sheriff’s Office says they received a phone call at around 3:30-p.m. about a one-vehicle rollover, with minor injuries. The injured persons were transported by private vehicle to Alegent Health Hospital. Authorities say the accident involved a 2002 Hyundai Sante Fe SUV, driven by Elizabeth Cooper. It took place at 255th and 260th Street, in southern Adams County.

Another accident occured Saturday morning in Adams County. Sheriff’s officials say deputies were called to the 26-mile marker along Highway 25 at around 7:50-a.m.  When they arrived, deputies found a white, 2008 Chevy Avalanche, in the west ditch. The vehicle was unoccupied, and appeared not to have sustained any damage.

Sheriff’s officials in Montgomery County report two arrests, Sunday. Deputies arrested 25-year old Lindsey Kay May, of Grant, at around 11:40-p.m., on charges of Domestic Assault and Possession of Marijuana. May was booked into the Montgomery County Jail and held without bond.

And, 23-year old Ryan Daniel Reich, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 8-p.m. Sunday, on a felony charge of Criminal Mischief in the 2nd degree. Reich was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $5,000 cash bond.

344 AM CDT MON JUN 17 2013

EARLY THIS MORNING...PARTLY CLOUDY. PATCHY FOG. NORTHEAST WIND NEAR 5 MPH.

TODAY…PARTLY SUNNY. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS LATE IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGH IN THE MID 80S. NORTHWEST WIND NEAR 5 MPH. CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS 20 PERCENT.

TONIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS IN THE EVENING. LOW AROUND 60. NORTH WIND NEAR 5 MPH. CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS 20 PERCENT.

TUESDAY…PARTLY SUNNY. HIGH IN THE LOWER 80S. NORTHEAST WIND NEAR 5 MPH.

TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOW AROUND 60. HIGH IN THE LOWER 80S. SOUTH WIND NEAR 15 MPH.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT…PARTLY CLOUDY WITH A 30 PERCENT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. LOW IN THE MID 60S.

THURSDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT...PARTLY CLOUDY. A 40 PERCENT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. HIGH IN THE LOWER 80S. LOW IN THE LOWER 70S.

FRIDAY…PARTLY SUNNY WITH A 40 PERCENT CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. HIGH IN THE UPPER 80S.