Home Care In Palo, IA

Duane Arnold Energy Center near Palo did not restart after the Aug. 10 derecho caused 'extensive” damage to its cooling towers. As decommissioning work begins, here's what we know:

How many people did Duane Arnold employ?

As of 2018 when decommissioning was announced, about 500 worked at the facility. Now, about 400 workers still are at Duane Arnold, NextEra Energy spokesman Peter Robbins said.

Why is it being decommissioned?

Dean Curtland, plant director, told The Gazette in 2018 Iowa's changing energy landscape has overshadowed and outpriced Duane Arnold.

Closing the facility could save NextEra about $300 million over 21 years, with cost savings coming as early as 2021. That translates to about $42 per residential customer.

What impact did the derecho have on its decommissioning?

NextEra Energy already was planning on decommissioning Duane Arnold this year.

When the derecho caused 'extensive” damage to the facility's cooling towers, NextEra opted against restarting the plant so close to the Oct. 30 decommissioning date.

Replacing the cooling towers with fewer than three months until decommissioning was 'not feasible,” Robbins said last month.

What is happening now that the plant is shut down?

The decommissioning process is underway as employees remove nuclear material from the facility.

'There's the nuclear fuel that was in the reactor and then nuclear fuel that was in a pool - what is called the spent fuel pool,” Robbins said. 'We've been moving a lot of the fuel out of that pool and putting it in a storage facility on the site.”

How long will the decommissioning process take?

The process involves several steps, starting with removing nuclear material from the site.

After nuclear material goes into the spent fuel pool, it can go into dry storage.

After all fuel is removed, officials have 60 years to decommission the facility.

How long will people be working at Duane Arnold?

About half the about 400 employees still working at the facility will leave by the end of the year, Robbins said, through a mix of retirements and offers to work at other NextEra facilities.

While decommissioning started early, many of the employee exit plans still are based on the planned Oct. 30 decommissioning date.

After about a year and a half, a 'core” group of 50 employees will continue to work long-term as the decommissioning process continues.

What happens to the emergency sirens in Palo?

Robbins said NextEra has not made a decision yet on the future of the emergency sirens within the plant's area that warns of any emergencies at the facility.

'We've been in discussions with different parties involved,” Robbins said. 'We'll get to the point at the site where our emergency planning area - the 10 miles around the plant - gets a lot smaller.”

Are there any other nuclear power plants in Iowa?

Duane Arnold was the last nuclear power plant in the state. The closest nuclear power plant is in Cordova, Ill., about 20 miles northeast of Moline along the Mississippi River.

Comments: (319) 398-8394; [email protected]

Linn County — A tense meeting Tuesday night for the third and final consideration of a rezoning application for a major solar project in Palo.

The Linn County Board of Supervisors passed the ordinance two to one, with Ben Rogers and Stacey Walker voting for the solar farm project proposed at the old Duane Arnold Nuclear site.

Louie Zumbach voted against it.

“If you do want this, I think we had an overall 'my people want it right,' and I don’t, I don’t believe that we’re exactly doing our due diligence and in knowing what’s actually going to be built, I just think it’s too vague,” Zumbach said.

There have been hours of public comment on the project.

"When you're presented an application like this one that has diligently followed your guidance through the established ordinances and the comprehensive plan, then you have an obligation to approve that application," a supporter urged the board Tuesday evening. "I am confident you will make a reasonable decision tonight for the betterment of Linn County as a whole based on the fact the proposed application is consistent with your comprehensive plan."

People that don't want the project to happen are worried about what'll happen to their property values.

"The last few years for everyone with COVID and the derecho have been awful and we have all felt that. This project for so many residents will ruin what has been special to them, the aesthetics that have drawn people to this area will be gone," a Linn County resident lamented in opposition to the project.

Opponents also say they don't want farmland used for it and many are worried about the landscape changing, something supervisors acknowledged during debate Tuesday evening.

“And I understand that this is a difficult landscape changing project, but one that I take so seriously for those reasons and that I’ve done all the due diligence, and I’ve done my reading, I’ve done my research and I’m going to continue to support these types of projects,” Board member Ben Rogers said.

Next-Era Energy says the project will bring more jobs to the area and give Palo a big economic boost.

Supporters say approving the plan is the right thing to do for the community and to address climate change.

“And whether or not folks agree with the fact that we are in a climate crisis, we have to do as much as we can to address it, that is our reality,” Board member Stacey Walker said.

PALO, Iowa — Residents are upset about overflowing water bills in a small Linn County community.

Dozens of people came out Monday for a meeting about the issue in Palo, a town of about 1,400 people.

People in Palo are experiencing a surge in their water bills, many of them double the amount of what they were last month.

City Council held a meeting on Monday to discuss the increase in water prices.

The price increase was already discussed at previous city meetings.

But many residents were unaware that prices would go up by so much, and took their complaints to city council after seeing the sticker shock on their bill.

"Why are we paying for secret meetings?" one Palo resident named Donna asked. "Why are we paying all these people?"

Palo is already in a deficit, and now residents say they're being ripped off.

One viewer told Iowa's News Now Monday his bill went from $128 last month, to $329 this month.

Some residents at the meeting said that not only are their bills rising in price, but the information on the bill isn't matching up with their actual water usage.

There was a lot of speculation about metering issues, but after learning most residents at Monday's meeting were grappling with huge, unexpected jumps, it may be back to the drawing board for council.

"If you have constructive ideas to share with us, please do," said Mayor Eric Van Kerckhove. "We encourage people to come to the council meetings. Obviously, we enjoy it when it's a more positive reason to come here, but we can do our jobs better when we have your input."

Some residents questioned whether the collective cost to run Palo's splashpad had anything to do with the higher July water bill.

One person asked for specs on the splashpad's monthly operating costs, but the council didn't have those numbers readily available.

"You guys had to know this question was coming," said one Palo resident.

Another concern is what the city is paying for sewage costs.

City council said Monday they're paying $16,000 a month for Cedar Rapids to pump the city's sewage, which shows up as a line item on Palo residents' bills.

But some residents said Monday they don't get to use the city's sewage services, and argue they shouldn't have to pay that part of the bill.

City Council said that they will try to come back with some solutions at their next meeting on Monday, but had warned earlier in the evening it may take months to do anything tangible.

PALO — After first recommending last year against approving a utility-scale solar project near Coggon, a split Linn County Planning and Zoning Commission has voted to endorse a much larger solar installation near Palo.

On a 4-3 vote, the commission agreed Thursday night to advise the Linn County Board of Supervisors to approve two Florida-based NextEra’s Duane Arnold Solar projects north of Palo, near the site of the decommissioned Duane Arnold Energy Center nuclear plant.

The supervisors are set to take up the projects over the course of three considerations at the end of August.

Last year, the panel voted 6-1 to recommend the supervisors deny approval of the smaller Coggon solar project, but the supervisors ultimately approved a zoning change to allow the project anyway.

Commission members who voted to recommend approval of the Palo projects cited a stronger and more detailed application than they saw for the Coggon project.

But commission member George Maxwell — who voted no — said that “it doesn't matter what we do because the supervisors are going to do what they want.”

The Duane Arnold Solar I project proposes to use 316 acres of an 857-acre area to place photovoltaic solar arrays capable of generating up to 50 megawatts of energy.

The Duane Arnold Solar II project would use 815 acres of a 1,780-acre area to place solar arrays capable of generating up to 150 MW. It would also include a 75-MW, four-hour battery energy storage facility. The battery energy storage system will have about 96 20 x 8-foot containers that will house 7,040 lithium-ion battery modules.

Dozens of people — some in support of the project and some in opposition to it — attended the meeting at the Palo Community Center to voice their views on the proposed projects.

Sign up for On Iowa Politics

Subscribe now and receive a roundup of Iowa politics news sent directly to your inbox.

Some residents said they’re opposed to taking agricultural land out of production. Others are concerned that the project will cause a decline in property values.

“We don't want this in our backyard,” Sallie Buelow, of Palo, said. “We don't want to see a sea of black glass for 30 years. Most of the people that support this live in Cedar Rapids.”

Chip Davis, a farmer who lives on the edge of Cedar Rapids and Palo, said he attended a NextEra solar site commissioning ceremony in Wisconsin and was impressed with what he saw.

“The cover crops they used were impressive in that timespan. I know the cover crops will stop any erosion,” Davis said. “And the fencing was all habitat fencing, no barbed wire or anything like that. The only thing that wouldn’t get through there is maybe a deer.”

Sara Alden, of Center Point, said she’s concerned about the battery storage facility included in the plans. She and others said they’re worried it could catch on fire.

“Linn County has not set an ordinance for battery-storage systems,” she said. “They are not prepared to provide accurate and reasonable standards on this project. … If this is environmentally focused, the best move would be not to build it because that would be the least environmental impact.”

But Cedar Rapids resident Don White said he thinks the pairing of the panels with a battery storage facility is the best option.

“We have our local utility needing to replace a nuclear power plant’s worth of power,” White said. “The utility is partnering with a developer who has a great reputation in this state.”

Linn County Planning and Development Director Charlie Nichols said county staff recommended approval of the project with the county’s current stipulations. Those include a 300-foot setback from non-participating landowners. Nichols said there are 11 non-participating property owners within 1,000 feet of planned solar panels, and seven within 500 feet of panels.

NextEra, which has operated in Iowa since 1999 and has 12 wind farms in the state, said it plans to invest $800 million in the solar project, including $50 million paid to landowners for voluntary easements over the project’s 30-year life span. It would be the company’s first solar project in Iowa.

The Palo solar projects application was submitted in February. It includes site plans, a decommissioning plan, economic and land-use analysis, vegetation management plan, agricultural impact mitigation plan, setback analysis and a screening plan along with other documents. The project is estimated to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 9.49 million metric tons per year.

Project Director Kimberly Dickey said the site was chosen because of its proximity to the former Duane Arnold nuclear plant, also owned by NextEra, that has been closed since the 2020 derecho.

“The infrastructure here is amazing and with the decommissioning of the nuclear plant, the capacity at the substation is still there. That’s unheard of anywhere,” she said. “But if we don’t have interested landowners, there is no project. In this case, we had a lot of interest and people signed up to participate and have a vision for the use of their own land.”

While NextEra will develop the project, Alliant Energy filed a proposal with the Iowa Utilities Board to buy the large-scale solar project from NextEra and further develop it into the state’s largest solar and battery storage facility, if that plan receives approval.

“Our requirements transfer to whoever the owner is,” Nichols said. “The new owner, Alliant, would be obligated under the same set of conditions. They are bound by them no matter what.”

The Iowa Utilities Board issued an order Tuesday granting electric generating certificates for the Duane Arnold Solar projects, pending county supervisor approval.

NextEra plans to have its Palo projects operational by December 2024. The estimated start of construction is the first quarter of 2023, if the projects are approved.

Progress on the 640-acre solar farm near Coggon — approved by the supervisors — is on hold while a court resolves a case brought against the supervisors by a family who lives near the site.

The solar farm, 3 miles west of Coggon, is a partnership between Idaho-based Clenera and Central Iowa Power Cooperative.

Laura Robinson, one of the family members who brought the lawsuit against the Linn County supervisors, spoke during Thursday night’s public comment period in Palo.

“I’ve been a Linn County resident for 42 years and after what we've been going through, I’m losing faith in the county government process,” she said. “This committee voted to not approve (the Coggon project.) During the Board of Supervisors meetings, any talk of any concessions whether they be setbacks, not using high quality farm ground, even panel heights, it was immediately shut down by out-of-state developers who said it would kill the project so supervisors said ‘OK, OK, whatever you want basically.’ … We are involved citizens who are being ignored by some of the county power structures. I hope this doesn't happen here with this project.”

Comments: (319) 398-8255; [email protected]

By Cindy Hadish

Clark “Bud” Derhammer wanted a last look at the schoolhouse he attended before it rolled off to a new destination on Dec. 5, 2022.

Derhammer, 81, remembers playing in the Stony Point School yard back in the 1950s and crossing the creek to walk to school if the water “wasn’t too high.”

The former Stony Point student was among a number of spectators to watch the one-room school move from its more than century-long location, near Covington on Highway 94 and Stoney Point Road, to a new site, just a mile or so away on Ellis Road, rural Palo.

Related: One-room schoolhouse readies for move

Ferneau & Sons House Moving & Raising of Marshalltown took less than 30 minutes to relocate the 45,000-pound, 20-foot tall building, which dates back to the 1870s, after starting the move promptly at 9 a.m. Monday.

Overcast skies, but no snow, little wind and temperatures in the 30s made the weather nearly ideal, said Kevin Ferneau, who moved the schoolhouse with his son, Matt Ferneau.

The route included one turn from the highway onto Ellis Road, before climbing to its new site on a hill.

Former student Rae Jeanne Kilberger, 85, is entirely self-funding the move and restoration of the school, which had been deteriorating at its original location after closing in 1959.

In 2005, restoration efforts were underway at Stony Point School, but by 2014, that effort had ended due to a lack of funds, according to Iowa One Room Schools.

Kilberger had the school relocated to nearby property she owns to restore it as much as possible and be able to closely monitor the building, which was subjected to vandalism and theft at its original site. Broken windows, missing doors and other damage will be repaired in the coming months.

She hopes to eventually open it to the public so future generations can learn about the daily chores and other aspects of one-room rural schools that once numbered more than 100 in Linn County, alone, to just a handful remaining.

Already, the move elicited stories shared by former students and others, including one relayed to Kilberger’s friend, Teresa Walker.

Walker said a neighbor who boarded a horse on the field adjacent to the school was perplexed when her horse went missing. After two days, she finally heard a noise and found her horse in the basement of the school.

The horse had entered the lower level through doors where students formerly carried wood into the building.

Cutting wood was among the chores that students, in first through eighth grades, were tasked to handle, Kilberger said.

Even though the school day might be unfathomable to students now, Kilberger — who went on to own a fluorescent lighting business — has fond memories of her time at Stony Point School.

“A lot of people think I’m nuts, but I don’t care,” she said of the move. “If they want to spend their money on beer and drinks, that’s their problem. If I want to spend it on the school, that’s my problem.”

More: Learn how the Cedar Rapids School District could destroy a key piece of history and see more photos from the move of Stony Point School, below: