Okay, it’s steam and not smoke…and there isn’t any fire in the sky. This time of year a clear river channel and a blast of cold air can combine for a pretty neat scene! The other day there was steam rising from the river, from some of the storm drains, and from various smokestacks.

This is some of the steam rising from one of the Heskett power plant stacks. It reminded me that images of ominous evil stacks belching forth black plumes of pollution are merely a tool of the environmentalists’ propaganda. Those are an anachronism, really. The industry continues to make great strides not only in extracting the most energy from the coal they burn, but from extracting as many pollutants as they can before they’re expelled into the air. Much of that innovation takes place right here in North Dakota’s famed “energy corridor.”

What you see rising from power plants these days is steam, not smoke. That’s a really common misconception. That’s also why you rarely see emissions from a power plant on a warm day. A friend of mine told me the other day that since the two power generating units at Heskett are slightly different, sometimes you’ll see steam from one and not the other because of the temperature difference of the two. I’m told I may be doing some more power plant work in the near future, so I look forward to another close look at the process!