St. Paul’s High Bridge Power Plant, owned by Xcel Energy, is going to be converted from coal to natural gas burning. If the plant doesn’t immediately ring a bell, this photo should do the trick:
The photo comes from a great new local photo blog, ViewFromTheTundra.com.
Switching to gas from coal is a good thing because coal’s not exactly clean burning, which is one of the reasons for that tall smoke stack. That’s probably tall enough to turn St Paul’s pollution into Wisconsin’s problem.
The gas burning plant doesn’t require that smoke stack, so it’s on the demolition list. However, not everyone thinks that’s a good idea, including the Twin Cities’ top real estate blogger, Teresa Boardman, who’s campaigning to have the smokestack preserved:
I understand why people don’t get all excited about saving a smokestack but I think we should consider it. Once the plant is removed the land will be green space. No one would dream of demolishing the vacant Island station plant just up river.
I think Teresa has a good point. We should maintain examples of structures that help tell the story of our cities. What better example of how St. Paul has powered it’s businesses and resident’s homes than this landmark smoke stack?