Coal Power Plants: Demand Falling, Trouble Rising

The skies are growing cloudier for new coal fired power plants.  So why build one near the Chesapeake Bay?

Demand for electricity has fallen 5 percent nationally over the last two years, according to a recent report in the Dow Jones Newswire.

And, to muddy the waters even more for coal, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is moving forward on regulations under the Clean Air Act that will require new plants to install the "best available technology" to reduce carbon dioxide.

It is unclear what this will mean, because there are no commercially available technologies to make significant cuts in carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, according to the Dow Jones report. So it might be impossible.

All these negative factors have taken a toll, and plans for new coal-fired power plants have dried up across the country.

Despite all this, in the Chesapeake Bay region, the Old Dominion Electric Cooperative is moving ahead with an ill-conceived proposal to build a 1,500 megawatt coal-fired power plant in Dendron, Va.   An analysis commissioned by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation concluded that this plant would add significant, and illegal, amounts of mercury pollution to the Bay and its tributaries.

The report also found that the plant would add 118.2 more tons of nitrogen pollution annually to the Bay watershed. That's about as much as adding another large sewage treatment plant.

It is an unavoidable conclusion that this plant would hurt the Bay and the broader environment. But it is not at all clear that this plant is even necessary. With stagnant or falling energy demand nationally, and concerns about greenhouse gases, heavy metals and nitrogen pollution from coal plants, it would be far wiser for Virginia to halt this massive –- and massively harmful –- project.

Conservation and cleaner fuel, such as solar and wind, would be a smarter choice.

Comments

[Jim Hill]

We surely don't need any more coal plants, but we really, really need more atomic power plants to meet the ever rising demand for electricity - and they are carbon-free! we're behind the needs curve already!

[coalportal]

The investment into alternative power generating technologies such as nuclear energy may need to be measured against the potential cost when things turn against you as unfortunately happened this year in Japan. Coal prices and coal statistics show developing economies are more likely to increase their investment into & their use of coal mining in coming years because of coal's affordability and ability to quickly meet increasing demands for electricity and steel. www.coalportal.com