Ahead of open houses, opposition grows to Alliant's planned Linn County power plant

Public scrutiny is mounting around Alliant Energy's push to build a major natural gas plant in Linn County, drawing fresh criticism from a University of Iowa scientist just days before scheduled informational meetings.

Alliant is slated to hold two open houses on Thursday, July 30, 2026, at the IBEW hall on Cedar Rapids' southwest side, offering sessions from noon to 1:30 p.m. and 5 to 6:30 p.m. The meetings follow a busy stretch of regulatory filings for the proposed Morgan Valley Energy Center.

In July 2026, Alliant submitted an application to Linn County Planning and Development to rezone roughly 160 acres from agricultural to exclusive use near Highway 30 and Benton-Linn Road, northwest of Fairfax. That local filing mirrors an ongoing review by the Iowa Utilities Commission, where the utility's subsidiary, Interstate Power and Light Company, filed in April 2026 to seek a decision by December.

The 720-megawatt project has spurred local pushback. A community group named Save Morgan Valley has organized opposition, with residents speaking out at county and municipal meetings over potential proximity and environmental impacts.

Those local concerns received a scientific backing this week from Peter Thorne, a UI professor of occupational and environmental health and past chair of the EPA Science Advisory Board. Thorne questioned the facility's emissions of nitrogen oxide, carbon dioxide, and methane, arguing that the three planned combustion turbines rely on a simple-cycle design that falls short of the efficiency offered by combined-cycle alternatives.

"The emissions that they are analyzing are the typical ones that we see," Thorne said, pointing to cleaner alternatives like wind, solar, and next-generation storage.

If approved, the power plant would utilize about 55 acres of the 160-acre property, with company plans indicating that the remaining acreage could be restored to agricultural production once operations begin.