Now, Matanuska Electric Association is planning a coal-fired power plant in the Valley and she's worried, Campbell testified Thursday at Pioneer Peak Elementary School.

"If they pollute Alaska I don't know where I'll go," Campbell said.

Campbell and about 70 others showed up at the school for one of three public comment sessions the utility scheduled that day to gather input on its proposed sites in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough for two new power generating plants, one powered by coal and the other by natural gas.

MEA plans to have the plants online by 2015. Of the 35 or so who spoke at Pioneer Peak school, all but a handful oppose building the coal-fired power plant at all.

The discussion was supposed to focus on where to build the plants; the decision to move forward and build it has already been made by the MEA board of directors. Ballots mailed to MEA members asking them to choose from among five sites -- Miller's Reach Road in Houston, Pittman Road in Meadow Lakes, two sites in Palmer near the Glenn-Parks Highways interchange and one at Parks Highway and Vine Road -- are due June 6.

But nobody seemed to want to talk about the sites.

"This latest ballot, if you can call it a ballot, is like saying, 'Where do you want a punch in the face? Which spot do you want? The eyes, the nose, the teeth?'" Dan Elliott said.

He echoed the most-expressed sentiment at the meeting, that the utility co-op has given its members no chance to say whether they want a coal plant in the Valley in the first place.

MEA spokeswoman Lorali Carter said that's true. Members were not asked whether they wanted to use coal to generate power.

"We definitely listen to the membership," Carter said. "But when it comes to making the very complicated and technical decisions on how to provide power, we rely on the experts."

The MEA board relied on a report by engineering firm CH2M Hill, which proposed generating 200 megawatts of power using natural gas and coal while continuing to look at renewable sources like hydroelectric, wind and solar, and tapping them as they become cost-effective, she said.

Under the CH2M Hill plan, five megawatts of power will come from renewables, Carter said. Fears that the Valley will become a new Los Angeles are unfounded, she said, as the coal plant will be the cleanest burning plant possible.

"Where I feel the hang up is as new people come into the process, they want to start over and that's difficult," Carter said, "We can't start over every time someone has a question."

Opponents of the plan object to the MEA board withholding all but the 10-page summary of the 70-page CH2M Hill report. MEA officials say the report should remain under wraps to avoid giving a competitive edge to Chugach Electric Association, a rival utility on which MEA is contractually reliant until 2015 for all its power.

Proponents of the MEA plan pitch it as the most economically feasible means to generate electricity and get MEA out from under the Chugach contract.

Pete Houston, who heads the MEA Ratepayer's Alliance, said the MEA plan isn't as cheap as its proponents claim it will be, once collateral costs to fishing and tourism are factored in.

"For me, it's not so much that there's no good place to burn coal in the Valley," Houston said, "There's no place for a bad plan in my budget." Ratepayer Jess Lee testified that the relationship with Chugach is fine and doesn't need to be thrown out.

"I was on the board of directors when we signed it back in the 80s," Lee said.

He also urged ratepayers not to mail in their ballots.

Another anti-coal plant group, Utility Watch, is asking people to write "none of the above" on their ballots and mail them to the group, according to its Web site.

Ballots so marked will not be counted in the MEA vote.

Carter said she's aware of that movement but said they've already received many ballots and expect more will come in throughout the coming week.

"(From) people that want to legitimately participate in the site selection process, we have over 4,000 ballots that have already come in," Carter said.

Former MEA board candidate Dan Tucker said Thursday that the utility is proceeding in the face of overwhelming opposition. Carter said her sense is different.

"I get a lot of phone calls and e-mails during the day," Carter said. "I would say that they're probably running 50/50."