Clean Air News

The state issued a final permit today for a 1200 MW coal plant in Early County, Georgia. The proposed 1200 MW plant is larger than most US plants, and would be powered by dirty, last-generation technologies that would do little to secure Georgia’s energy future.

“Georgia already has an incredibly dirty energy mix, this new plant will only make our air dirtier and our rivers more polluted,” said Jennette Gayer, policy advocate with Environment Georgia. “This plant will emit greenhouse gases equivalent to 1.3 million extra cars on the road and mercury equivalent to nearly 130,000 broken thermometers.”

The original proponent for the plant, Longleaf Energy Associates, a branch of LS Power based in Princeton, New Jersey, recently merged with Dynegy making the company the number one coal-plant builder in the country. Annually the plant will:

• *      Emit more than 240 pounds of mercury, a powerful neurotoxin that makes its way into our water supply where it accumulates in fish and the people who eat them to the point that children and women of childbearing age are urged to limit fish consumption;
  
  
• *      Release 6,400 tons of sulfur dioxide, a major ingredient in fine particle pollution, linked to premature death and respiratory and cardiovascular disease;
  
  
• *      Release 3,700 tons of nitrogen dioxide, a major ingredient in the photochemical smog that plagues many cities across Georgia on summer days, triggering asthma attacks and sending people to the hospital; and
• 
  *      Emit nine million tons of carbon dioxide, the leading global warming gas which vast amounts of scientific evidence link to warming temperatures.

“This coal plant does not have pollution controls that meet national standards. While Dynegy will save millions by refusing to use the best pollution controls, Georgia’s citizens will pay through increased hospital visits, premature deaths, and damaged crops,” said Justine Thompson with the Georgia Center for Law in the Public Interest, whose group will spearhead the legal efforts to stop the permitted coal plant.

Commenting on the likelihood that much of the power will be sold to communities in Florida, Patty Durand, Executive Director of the Sierra Club noted that, “While the power may leave the state, the public health impacts will be felt by Georgia’s citizens for years to come.  Coal fired power plants emit mercury which causes brain damage in babies, soot which causes heart attacks, and other pollutants that cause smog which, in turn, causes asthma and aggravates lung disease.”

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Links to relevant documents:

Response to Comments

http://www.georgiaair.org/airpermit/psd/dockets/longleaf/permitdocs/0990030fd.pdf

Final Permit

http://www.georgiaair.org/airpermit/psd/dockets/longleaf/permitdocs/0990030final.pdf