A Large Fact Sheet on Power Plant Pollution (focused on coal)
Dirty Coal Power
We all use electricity in our daily lives, almost without thinking about it
-- turning on the lights, listening to the radio, and using computers. If
we stopped and learned about the energy we use, we would encounter some
shocking realities about the impacts of the energy production process on
the environment and our health.
Where Our Power Comes From
With all the amazing technological advancements over the last century, one
thing that has not changed very much is our reliance on fossil fuels, in
particular, dirty coal to generate electricity. In the US today, coal is
the number one source of electricity produced (54%), followed by nuclear
sources (21%), hydropower (16%), natural gas (9%), oil (2%), and other
non-renewables (3%). As the producer of the largest share of our nation's
energy, coal-fired plants are also some of the dirtiest.
Coal-Fired Power Plants Creating Pollution
Many older coal fired power plants have enjoyed a loophole in the Clean Air
Act, allowing them to avoid modernizing with pollution controls. As a
result, as many as 600 existing power plants are between 30-50 years old
and are up to10 times dirtier than new power plants built today. When the
Clean Air Act was proposed, this loophole was included to get it passed
because of the strong opposition from the coal-fired power plant industry.
Congress assumed that newer plants would come into compliance with the
Clean Air Act standards and soon replace the older more polluting plants.
For a variety of reasons, including efforts to heavily subsidize coal, this
has not happened. Therefore today we are now faced with a disproportionate
amount of pollution coming from these old, dirty, under-controlled plants.
How much air pollution do coal-fired power plants create?
Out of the entire electric industry, coal-fired power plants contribute 96%
of sulfur dioxide emissions, 93% of nitrogen oxide emissions, 88% of carbon
dioxide emissions, and 99% of mercury emissions. Coal is the number one
source of electricity produced in the United States.
Smog
When nitrogen oxide (NOx) reacts with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and
sunlight ground level ozone, or smog forms. Power plants are second only to
automobiles as the greatest source of NOx emissions. NOx emissions from
huge dirty coal plants with tall smokestacks in the midwest are often blamed
for increased smog levels in many eastern regions because smog and its
precursor pollutants are easily transported hundreds of miles downwind from
pollution sources. More than 100 million Americans live in regions that fail
to meet health-based smog standards.
Even our national parks have not escaped the smog caused by coal-fired
power plants. Regional haze from airborne pollutants has reduced annual
average visibility in the U.S. to about one-third, in the west and to
one-quarter in the east, of natural conditions. Smog concentrations
increased at 17 of 24 National Park Service monitoring sites from
1992-1998. In fact, recently Cape Cod National Sea Shore has had higher
pollution levels and more bad air days than Boston.
When inhaled, smog causes a burning of the cell wall of the lungs and air
passages. This eventually weakens the elasticity of the lungs, making them
more susceptible to infections and injury and causing asthma attacks and
other respiratory illnesses. This danger is present for anyone who inhales
smog, although children, elderly, and those with respiratory problems are
at a higher risk of developing health problems associated with smog
pollution. A UCLA School of Medicine study found that over time, repeated
exposure smog and other air pollutants can cause as much damage to the
lungs as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. In addition, a recent Abt
Associates study found that high smog levels in the eastern US cause
159,000 trips to the emergency room, 53,000 hospital admissions, and 6
million asthma attacks each summer.
Soot
The burning of coal emits sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx)
gases, which can form fine particles, or soot, when they react with the
atmosphere. In addition, coal-fired power plants also emit soot directly
from their smokestacks. Scientists increasingly believe soot to be the most
dangerous air pollutant, blaming it for 64,000 deaths per year in the US,
which is almost twice the number of deaths due to auto crashes. Cutting
power plant pollutants by 75% would avoid more than 18,000 of those deaths.
Soot causes bacterial and viral respiratory infections like pneumonia, as
well as chronic lung diseases, like asthma, that destroy lives over the
course of years. Soot from power plants triggers an estimated 603,000
asthma attacks nationwide every year. Bringing old plants up to modern
standards would be avoid 366,000 of these attacks. In addition, studies
have found that soot may cause heart attacks and arrhythmia (irregular
heartbeat) and that the incidence of strokes and heart failure is greater
in areas with high levels of soot.
Acid Rain
Acid rain is formed when sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx)
react with water and oxygen in the atmosphere to form acidic compounds,
most commonly sulfuric and nitric acid. These compounds can become
incorporated into natural precipitation and fall to the earth as rain or
snow. Coal-fired power plants are the largest source of SO2, 66%, and
second to automobiles in NOx emissions. The Northeast and eastern Canada is
home to some of the worst acid rain pollution because emissions produced
from large dirty midwestern coal power plants waft in the wind toward the
northeast. Numerous lakes and streams in the Adirondack mountains of
upstate New York are too acidic to support fish life.
Acid rain destroys the ecosystems, including streams and lakes, upsetting
the delicate pH balance and making them unable to support life. It also
can destroy forests, killing plant and animal life and eats away at
man-made monuments and buildings, effectively destroying our natural and
historical treasures.
While the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act have made great progress in
reducing SO2 emissions from many of the midwestern coal power plants, more
needs to be done because many of the lakes and streams in the Northeast
continue to suffer from acid rain.
Toxins
Coal-and oil-fired power plants are one of the largest sources of toxic
metal compound pollution. Together they released more than one billion
pounds of toxic pollution in 1998, including 9 million pounds of toxic
metals and metal compounds and 750 million pounds of dangerous acid gases.
Many of these compounds are known or suspected carcinogens and neurotoxins
and can cause acute respiratory problems, and aggravate asthma and
emphysema.
One of the most dangerous toxins emitted is mercury. Coal contains trace
amounts of mercury that are released into the air when the fuel is burned
to produce electricity. The health hazard results when mercury falls to
the earth with rain, snow, and in dry particles.
Mercury causes brain, lung, and kidney damage, as well as reproductive
problems, and even death in humans and other animals. Mercury is found in
fish after it falls into a lake or stream. Just one drop of mercury can
contaminate a 25-acre lake to the point where fish are unsafe to eat,
making mercury contamination the most common reason for fish advisories
issued by States and Native American tribes. The EPA estimates that at
least six million women of childbearing age have levels of mercury in their
bodies that exceed what the EPA considers acceptable and that 375,000
babies born each year are at risk of neurological problems due to exposure
to mercury in the womb.
Global Warming
Burning fossil fuels such as coal releases carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution.
The US has 4% of the world's population yet emits 25% of the global warming
pollution. Power plants emit 40% of US carbon dioxide pollution, the
primary global warming pollutant. In 1999, coal-fired power plants alone
released 490.5 million metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere (32% of the
total CO2 emissions for 1999). Currently there is 30% more CO2 in the
atmosphere than there was at the start of the Industrial Revolution and we
are well on the way to doubling CO2 levels in the atmosphere during this
century.
The 1990s were the hottest decade on record. Average global temperatures
rose 1 degree Fahrenheit during the last century and the latest projections
are for an increase of average temperatures of 2 to as much as 10 degrees
during this century. In February 2001, the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) reported that global warming threatens human
populations and the world's ecosystems with worsening heat waves, floods,
drought, extreme weather and by spreading infectious diseases. To address
the problem of global warming, steps need to be taken to slash the amount
of CO2 power plants emit. We need to switch from burning coal to cleaner
burning natural gas and dramatically increase energy efficiency and
renewable wind and solar energy.
What Can Be Done?
By the Government:
The government should expand the Clean Air Act to include protections from
old and dirty power plants and provide incentives for the use of cleaner
fossil fuels. The government should also work towards the replacement of
the existing infrastructure with a more sustainable means of producing
electricity.
Congress is currently considering the Clean Power Act and Clean Smokestacks
Act of 2001. These companion bills would dramatically cut power plant
emissions for four major pollutants by 2007. Smog-forming nitrogen oxide
emissions would be cut by 75%, acid rain forming sulfur dioxide would also
be cut by 75%, toxic mercury emissions would be cut by 90%, and carbon
dioxide emissions would return to 1990 levels. In addition, the these
companion bills would require every power plant to meet the most recent
pollution controls required for new sources.
By individuals:
Individuals can help by conserving electricity in the home and office by:
· replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs;
· caulking and weather-strip doorways and windows;
· installing low-flow showerheads and faucets;
· keeping the furnace and air conditioner working properly;
· buying energy-efficient electronics and appliances and make sure to turn
them off when they're not in use;
· raise awareness in the community by speaking with friends and neighbors
and by; writing, faxing, calling and emailing to representatives in
government and the President.
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