Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times
Tall palm trees border the proposed site of a $4-billion coal power plant, Hydrogen Energy California, near a pistachio farm in Buttonwillow. Local farmers and farm workers are opposed to the idea, and that of a train yard in nearby Shafter slated for expansion to handle the coal shipped from East Coast.
Tall palm trees border the proposed site of a $4-billion coal power plant, Hydrogen Energy California, near a pistachio farm in Buttonwillow. Local farmers and farm workers are opposed to the idea, and that of a train yard in nearby Shafter slated for expansion to handle the coal shipped from East Coast. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times
The proposed site of a $4-billion coal power plant, Hydrogen Energy California, near a pistachio farm in Buttonwillow. Local farmers and farm workers are opposed to the idea.
The proposed site of a $4-billion coal power plant, Hydrogen Energy California, near a pistachio farm in Buttonwillow. Local farmers and farm workers are opposed to the idea. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
A proposal to build a $4-billion "clean coal plant" amid pistachio orchards in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley has brought the region to the brink of a new beginning, or deeper divisions.
Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times