2 Power Plants Up Mercury Emissions
Morgantown Dominion Post
23 March 2010
Associated Press
CHARLESTON — A new report by the Texas-based Environmental Integrity
Project shows that instead of cutting mercury emissions, two West
Virginia power plants have been releasing more.
The report is based on the Toxics Release Inventory, an online
storehouse of pollution data that power companies provide annually to
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The report released last week shows that between 2007 and 2008,
emissions from the nation’s 50 largest plants were flat, falling just
0.26 percent, while 27 of those plants increased mercury emissions.
That includes American Electric Power’s Kammer-Mitchell plant in
Marshall County, up 40.52 percent, and Allegheny Energy’s Fort Martin
plant in Monongalia County, up more than 31.19 percent, the report said.
AEP’s John Amos plant in Putnam County cut emissions by 7.31 percent.
AEP spokeswoman Melissa McHenry said her company’s presence on the list
is all about size: Bigger plants burn more coal and pollute more. AEP
is testing a new mercury pollution control technology at a plant in
Indiana, she said.
‘‘Obviously we will operate our plants in compliance with whatever
rules come down,’’ she said.
However, there will be costs, and they ultimately will be reflected in
utility bills. The Indiana project is estimated to cost $27 million,
McHenry said.
The Environmental Integrity Project says power plants are the single
biggest source of mercury air pollution in the United States. Texas is
the single largest polluter on the list, with five plants claiming
spots in the top 10.
Mercury settles out of the air into rivers and lakes, moving into the
human food chain through fish. The EPA estimates nearly half the
nation’s lakes and reservoirs have unsafe levels of mercury.
Ilan Levin, author of the new report, says that while some utilities
are upgrading their plants, many are waiting until the federal
government forces them to act.
A cap-and-trade type system for mercury was adopted by the EPA, but a
federal appeals court overturned the rule in 2008 because it violated
the Clean Air Act.
Levin said there is plenty of readily available technology today for
power plants.
‘‘There’s just no more excuses for the utility industry to not clean up
its mercury emissions,’’ he said.