Biggest Increases in Climate-Related Pollution Seen in TX, GA, AZ, CA,
PA, MI, IA, IL, VA and NC; Major Factor: Increasing Use of Old, Inefficient
Power Plants
WASHINGTON, March 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A poor progress report
on efforts to rein in greenhouse gases: Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from
U.S. power plants climbed 2.9 percent in 2007, the biggest single-year
increase since 1998, according to new analysis by the nonprofit and
nonpartisan Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) of data from the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Now the single largest factor in
U.S. climate change pollution, the electric power industry's carbon dioxide
emissions have risen 5.9 percent since 2002 and 11.7 percent since 1997.
The new EIP report shows that the 10 states with the biggest one-year
increases in CO2 pollution are: Texas, Georgia, Arizona, California,
Pennsylvania, Michigan, Iowa, Illinois, Virginia and North Carolina.
According to the EIP analysis, Texas, Georgia and Arizona had the biggest
CO2 pollution increases on a one-, five- and 10-year basis. Data from 2006
show that the 10 states that emitted the most CO2 per megawatt-hour of
electricity produced (meaning the least efficient power production relative
to resulting climate-related pollution) are: North Dakota, Wyoming,
Kentucky, Indiana, Utah, West Virginia, New Mexico, Colorado, Missouri, and
Iowa.
The EIP report provides context for the ongoing battles over proposed
new coal plants. The report notes: "The data make clear why national
environmental groups have expended so much effort trying to stop the
construction of a new batch of conventional coal-fired power plants, which
would make a bad situation worse. For example, the eight planned coal-fired
plants that TXU withdrew in the face of determined opposition in Texas
would have added an estimated 64 million tons of CO2 to the atmosphere,
increasing emissions from power plants in that state by 24 percent. But
some of the rise in CO2 emissions comes from existing coal fired power
plants, either because these plants are operating at increasingly higher
capacities, or because these aging plants require more heat to generate
electricity ... [M]any coal-fired power plants are churning out more CO2
than they did in years past. For example, all of the top 10 highest
emitting plants in the nation, either held steady or increased CO2 output
from 2006 to 2007. Georgia Power's Scherer plant -- the highest emitting
plant in the nation, emitted 27.2 million tons of CO2 in 2007, up roughly 2
million tons since 2006. Some coal-fired plants date back fifty years or
more, and carbon reduction strategies will need to include ways to
permanently retire these plants."
Commenting on the report, Eric Schaeffer, director, Environmental
Integrity Project, Washington, D.C. said: "The current debate over global
warming policy tends to focus on long-term goals, like how to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent over the next fifty years. But while
we debate, CO2 emissions from power plants keep rising, making an already
dire situation worse. Because CO2 has an atmospheric lifetime of between 50
and 200 years, today's emissions could cause global warming for up to two
centuries to come."
Ken Kramer, director, Lone Star chapter of the Sierra Club, Austin,
Texas, said: "The bad news is that Texas is #1 in carbon emissions among
the 50 states, and our emissions have grown in recent years. The good news
is that Texas has the potential to play a major role in addressing global
warming if we embrace smart energy solutions such as energy efficiency and
renewable energy, solutions which pose tremendous economic as well as
environmental benefits. The dramatic expansion of the wind power industry
in Texas is a case in point. To become a true leader in clean energy,
however, Texas needs to reject the new proposed coal plants that would spew
even greater carbon emissions into the atmosphere, and the state must take
steps to reduce emissions from existing coal plants."
Mark Kresowik, Iowa organizer, Sierra Club's National Coal Campaign,
Des Moines, Iowa, said: "It is time for our states to reject coal plants
proposed by companies like Dynegy, which plans to add pollution to four of
the states on this list and become the worst new global warming polluter in
the country. Energy efficiency and renewable energy are powering a
renaissance in rural Iowa and creating thousands of new manufacturing jobs
for our state. By rejecting coal plants and reducing pollution through
energy efficiency and renewable energy our states will prosper and attract
new businesses and young workers for the future."
According to the EIP report, the consumption of electricity accounted
for more than 2.3 billion tons of CO2 in 2006, or more than 39.5 percent of
total emissions from manmade sources, according to the U.S. Department of
Energy. Coal-fired power plants alone released more than 1.9 billion tons,
or nearly one third of the U.S. total.
The Department of Energy projects that carbon dioxide emissions from
power generation will increase 19 percent between 2007 and 2030, due to new
or expanded coal plants. An additional 4,115 megawatts of new coal-fired
generating capacity was added between 2000 and 2007, with another up to
15,000 megawatts expected to come online in the 2008 through 2012
timeframe.
OTHER KEY FINDINGS
-- The top 10 states that emitted the most CO2 in 2007 (measured in
total tons) are: Texas, Ohio, Florida, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Illinois,
Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, and West Virginia.
-- The top 10 states with the largest increases in CO2 emissions over
the last five years (between 2002 and 2007) are: Texas, Georgia, Arizona,
Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina,
and North Carolina.
-- The top 10 states with the largest increases over the past ten years
(between 1997 and 2007) are Texas, Arizona, Georgia, California, Illinois,
Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Oklahoma, and Missouri.
For the full text of the EIP report, go to
http://www.environmentalintegrity.org on the Web.
RECOMMENDATIONS
EIP is calling for the following steps:
-- The nation's oldest and dirtiest power plants need to be retired,
and replaced with cleaner sources of energy. That will require accelerating
the development of wind power and other renewable sources of energy.
-- Cutting greenhouse gases quickly by reducing the demand for
electricity. Smarter building codes, and funding low-cost conservation
efforts -- such as weatherization of low-income homes, purchase and
installation of more efficient home and business appliances -- will reduce
demand and yield greenhouse gas benefits.
The report warns of the danger of a new wave of conventional coal-fired
power plants that would add millions of tons of greenhouse gases to the
atmosphere. Carbon capture and sequestration (removing and storing the
carbon either before or after the fuel is burned) and storing the carbon
underground may have long-term potential, but energy efficiency and
renewable sources of electricity are likely to provide the greatest benefit
over the next five years.
DATA SOURCES
The data for the EIP-produced rankings were obtained from recently
released U.S. Environmental Protection agency "Clean Air Markets" data. The
database is a publicly accessible repository for emissions and other
operational data self-reported by the utility industry, and includes more
than 1,000 power plants regulated under the federal Acid Rain Program.
Additional information on these programs and the database can be found on
EPA's Clean Air Markets web page at http://www.epa.gov/airmarkets/. Net
generation data for 2006 is from the U.S. Energy Information
Administration, and is available at:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/st_profiles/e_profiles_sum.html.
ABOUT THE GROUPS
The Environmental Integrity Project
(http://www.environmentalintegrity.org) is a nonpartisan and nonprofit
organization established in March 2002 to advocate for more effective
enforcement of environmental laws. EIP was founded by Eric Schaeffer, who
was director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of
Regulatory Enforcement. He resigned in 2002 after publicly expressing his
frustration with efforts of the Bush Administration to weaken enforcement
of the Clean Air Act and other laws.
The Sierra Club's National Coal Campaign is working to ensure coal is
mined responsibly and burned cleanly. Across the country the Campaign is
fighting to stop the construction of dirty new coal plants and direct the
proposed investments into energy efficiency, renewable resources and other
clean alternatives. For more information about the threat posed to our
health and our environment visit http://www.sierraclub.org/coal.
SOURCE Environmental Integrity Project, Washington, D.C.; The
Sierra Club,
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Related links:
http://www.environmentalintegrity.org
http://www.epa.gov/airmarkets/.
http://www.sierraclub.org/coal/
CONTACT:
Patrick Mitchell, +1-703-276-3266,
pmitchell@hastingsgroup.com, for Environmental Integrity Project,
Washington, D.C.
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