Infignos Media - Gaston Steam plant named a top polluter

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Gaston Steam plant named a top polluter

Thursday, January 3, 2013

A power plant in Shelby County has made a list of the worst mercury polluters in the country. The Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) says Alabama Power’s Gaston Steam Plant ranks second in the nation for mercury emissions with 1,244 pounds released.

The EIP reports concedes that mercury and other hazardous air pollution from U.S. power plants are declining but says the progress at the coal-fired power plants are uneven, leaving in place a significant remaining risk to the health of the public and environment.

EIP Attorney Ilan Levin said: “Nationwide, equipment has been installed over the years to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide and particulate matter. That has helped cut down on the release of mercury, toxic metals and acid gases from power plants over the last ten years. However, that progress is uneven, and the dirtiest plants continue to churn out thousands of pounds of toxins that can be hazardous to human health even in small concentrations. For example, emissions of mercury from coal-fired power plants have actually increased in the last decade in the state of Texas.

Levin added, “Emissions from local power plants deposit mercury and other toxic metals in nearby rivers and streams, where these pollutants concentrate in aquatic organisms at levels that can make fish unsafe to eat. The fact that so few plants are responsible for so much of the mercury pollution makes the solution less complicated; the dirtiest sources need to clean up their act.”

Spokesperson for Alabama Power, Michael Sznajderman released this information in response to the report:

* From 2007 through 2011, we've reduced mercury emissions across Alabama Power by more than 40 percent. During the same period, we've reduced all air releases as reported in the Toxic Release Inventory by 62 percent. * At Plant Gaston Unit 5, by far the biggest unit at the plant, the installation of selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology and a scrubber has reduced mercury emissions from the unit by nearly 80 percent since 2007. The SCR and scrubber and related environmental expenditures at Plant Gaston represented an investment of more than $400 million. * All the reductions noted above took place well in advance of the EPA's "MATS" rule (Mercury and Air Toxics Standard), which is the first regulation to actually require controls to reduce mercury emissions at power plants. The deadline for mercury reductions under MATS is 2015 or 2016. * Preliminary construction work is under way at Plant Gaston's four smaller units (Gaston 1-4) so they can operate on natural gas, which typically contains almost no mercury. The company also plans to install a baghouse on Unit 5, in addition to the existing controls on that large unit. Current cost projections put the investment for these two projects at around $650 million. We expect Gaston 1-4 to be running on natural gas in 2015. The baghouse is expected to be completed in 2016. * When these additional projects are completed, we expect mercury emissions from Plant Gaston to be reduced by 90 percent from the plant's peak.

Studies show exposure to constant, high levels of mercury could cause developmental disorders and problems in newborns and developing fetuses.

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Keywords: Shelby County , Alabama Power’s Gaston Steam Plant ,mercury,hazardous,pollution, health , toxic metals , acid gases ,toxins,developmental disorders ,

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