Running-Marquardt speaks out against Morgan Valley power plant plans
Linn County Board of Supervisors chair Kirsten Running-Marquardt publicly denounced Alliant Energy's proposed Morgan Valley Energy Center, stating it primarily serves Google and QTS data centers in Cedar Rapids and will cause significant pollution. She urged Alliant to implement better emission reduction technology and called for transmission lines to be rerouted away from a school campus. The project faces multiple regulatory reviews, including air quality permits and a rezoning application.
Linn County Board of Supervisors chair Kirsten Running-Marquardt used her annual State of Linn County address to voice strong opposition to Alliant Energy's proposed Morgan Valley Energy Center, a 720-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant. Speaking from the Jean Oxley Public Service Center in Cedar Rapids, Ms. Running-Marquardt asserted that the plant is primarily intended to supply power to Google and QTS data centers currently under construction in southwest Cedar Rapids, benefiting these companies and Alliant at the community's expense. Alliant Energy maintains the plant is needed for overall energy security and reliability, not a specific end-user.
Ms. Running-Marquardt raised significant environmental concerns, estimating the plant would increase Linn County's CO2 output by approximately 23% and act as a major source of criteria pollutants. She criticized Alliant for declining to include selective catalytic reduction technology, which could reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 90%, citing cost. She also called on Alliant, Google, and QTS to prioritize the community and make necessary changes to mitigate pollution and potential rate increases for residents. She outlined the plant's three parallel regulatory tracks: air quality permitting with Linn County Public Health and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, a rezoning application before the Linn County Planning and Zoning Commission and Board of Supervisors, and an ongoing Iowa Utilities Commission proceeding.
Separately, Ms. Running-Marquardt also addressed concerns about ITC's transmission lines, which are being built through Linn County to support the Cedar Rapids data center developments. She highlighted a contract with the College Community School District to route 345-kilovolt lines directly over baseball/softball fields and between two schools. While not objecting to the broader network, she pleaded for ITC and data center representatives to reroute this specific section away from the schools and children. She also mentioned three zoning ordinances passed by the board in the past year, governing large-scale data centers, nuclear energy development, and gas-fired electric generating facilities in unincorporated Linn County, emphasizing a "community first" approach.