Day Forty-Four: Midnight Stacks

Look north in Lawrence past the river bend and you might see a pillar of smoke looming above the horizon. This steady cloudlike stream is part of the emissions of the Westar Energy plant, a major supplier of electric energy to Lawrence.

The Lawrence plant - with one large smokestack that never seems to rest - can appear quite ominous, especially at night. One of my midnight training runs (I sometimes like to do my long runs late at night) took me on a river trail towards the isolated power plant. As I came in to a clearing in the trees its dominating presence all at once gave me a chill - and compelled me to run even faster!

In all, Westar has 12 power plants which use fuels such as natural gas, oil, and diesel to produce electric energy. Plants like the one in Lawrence have been the object of some scrutiny lately because of their use of coal (and other fossil fuels) to produce energy.

Many of those that fear harmful effects of carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels are pushing for the development of wind energy production. While efforts are being made on all sides to modify procedures to be more "environmentally friendly," any significant changes are slow in coming.

Are environmentalists just being long-winded?

Is Westar Energy just blowing smoke?

As today's photo suggests: the answer, my friend, just might be blowin' in the wind.