Linn County Supervisors reject rezoning for new Alliant Energy power plant

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — After a marathon meeting lasting more than six hours, members of Save Morgan Valley were rewarded with an answer they waited months to hear.

During the meeting that spanned Oct. 20 to Oct. 21, 2026, ending around 12:20 a.m., the Linn County Board of Supervisors unanimously rejected Alliant Energy’s rezoning request for the proposed Morgan Valley Energy Center on about 150 acres of farmland south of Highway 30 along Linn-Benton Road.

“We still have a big fight ahead of us,” Jon Lee, a leader of the grassroots group said, citing the Iowa Utilities Commission, which has scheduled a Dec. 7 hearing on Alliant’s request for the 720-megawatt gas-fired power plant. “But this is a step in the right direction.”

More than 40 people addressed the board during a public hearing preceding the vote at The Hotel at Kirkwood Center in Cedar Rapids, with just one person — from the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance — in favor of the proposal.

Nearby residents and others, citing environmental and health concerns among many issues, made their plea to the board after the previous night’s 3-3 tie with the same rezoning request in front of the Linn County Planning & Zoning Commission.

While the tie was initially considered a rejection of the request, Charlie Nichols, Linn County’s planning and development director, said the vote in actuality was forwarded to the board without any recommendation.

Save Morgan Valley, which started in response to Alliant’s proposed power plant, also heard confirmation of what members had suspected: that the plant would be supplying power to the data centers under construction and proposed for Cedar Rapids.

Former Linn County Supervisor Ben Rogers, who now works for Alliant, said the utility doesn’t build for one customer, but noted that “data centers are an important source of new demand.”

Rogers said Alliant is under a rate freeze through the end of the decade, 2029. If approved, construction of the Morgan Valley Energy Center would begin in 2027, and become operational in 2030. Alliant representatives have not answered questions about the cost of the plant, nor how it would be funded.

A natural gas pipeline would be built, owned and operated by an interstate pipeline supplier, Rogers said, though neighbors questioned whether or not eminent domain would be used to take the land from farm owners and homeowners.

Fairfax Mayor Jo Ann Beer read the town’s official opposition to the project, which was also formally opposed by neighboring Benton County and the town of Atkins, which would be expected to provide fire protection with its volunteer department, even as City Administrator Scott Flory cautioned against developing an emergency response plan “as an afterthought.”

Both communities are within the 2.25-mile setback requirement from the proposed site, depending on how the distance is measured.

Flory also cited what could be catastrophic to add daily water tanker trucks to the already busy Highway 30, making the turn onto the gravel Linn-Benton Road, as Alliant said water would be trucked to and from the site in the absence of a water agreement with the city of Cedar Rapids.

The three daughters of Jon and Michelle Lee, ages 9 through 12, stood up on a chair to address the supervisors during the public hearing, giving heart-felt testimony about life at their home, one-half mile from the proposed site.

“I’m worried about my health,” Sylvia Lee said. “If it goes in, the air will be bad and if the air is bad, I will not be able to play outside very often. I’m worried about my chickens and their health. Also, my guinea pig might not be able to breathe well; the same with my neighbors’ goats.”

The crowd, with more than 175 people dwindling down as the meeting crept into its sixth hour, applauded as the three supervisors registered their “no” votes and offered their own reasons for rejecting the rezoning.

Vice Chair Sami Scheetz cited water and wastewater among his major concerns.

“I won’t vote ‘yes’ in the hope someone will protect our residents later,” he said, referencing the state utilities commission. “I don’t believe this plant is good for our community.”

Brandy Meisheid noted that the proposal failed to meet 12 of 33 of the county’s comprehensive plan goals, including on important issues such as climate change.

Meisheid also was concerned about electricity rates for residential and small business customers of Alliant and removing prime agricultural land out of production.

“I’m not convinced they explored the full range of options,” she added, citing rooftop solar for the data centers that would be using the energy, and battery storage as examples.

Chairperson Kirsten Running-Marquardt said she was told the site needed to be close to data centers that are being built nearby in the city of Cedar Rapids, or residents would be paying higher costs, a threatening tactic she called “unacceptable.”

She also cited high cancer and asthma rates in Iowa, with the gas-fired plant predicted to emit more than 1 million tons of pollutants annually.

“I’m putting our residents ahead of corporate profits,” Running-Marquardt said of her “no” vote.

Alliant had not been as transparent as the commission would have expected, she added.

“Too many responses have been generic,” Running-Marquardt said. “We’re just not getting the answers we deserve.”

More: Proposed power plant puts Iowa landmark at risk