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Archived Air Issues:
October 2006
August 2005
April 2004
November 2003
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Dirtiest Power Plants in the Country.
Wendy Radcliff, the Center's newest lawyer, participated in a press conference to release a U.S. PIRG report that indicates West Virginia has some of the dirtiest power plants in the Country. The Bush administration's backsliding on the Clean Air Act implementation will delay older, dirty plants from meeting air quality standards. In addition to ozone causing pollutants released by the power plants, mercury is released at very high levels in West Virginia. Our power industry ranks fifth in the nation for its release of mercury in the air. Studies have shown that 90% of the mercury released from power plants can be eliminated by using the maximum achievable control technology standards (MACT). The Center is working with national groups to plan an effective approach to curtailing these harmful emissions in the region.
Western Greenbrier Co-Production power plant proposal.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is evaluating a Western Greenbrier Co-Production Power Plant planned for Rainelle, WV. DOE intends to loan the organizers of the facility, Western Greenbrier LLC, $105,000,000 through President Bush's Clean Coal Initiative. The demonstration project is expected to catalyze at least four additional 150 megawatt (MW) co-production facilities planned for southern West Virginia, in Summers and Mercer Counties. These plants are little more than a corporate welfare boondoggle that will foul the air and harm the economy in one of the most beautiful parts of the State while providing very few permanent jobs. These projects reaffirm the use of coal as a primary fuel source, do not use the best pollution control technologies for all pollutants, and lead the region away from developing sustainable sources of power. The reliance of the project on waste coal and significant additional amounts of high quality coal also promotes continued mountaintop removal coal mining in the region. DOE admits the project is a "high-risk" activity that relies on unproven technologies that may not be commercially viable. The Center has commented on preliminary stages of the Environmental Impact Statement and will continue to monitor the permitting process and challenge any activities that do not comply with the law.
The Longview Power Plant Permit.
We continue to monitor the status of the Longview Permit in Morgantown. In the likely event that a permit is issued, we have been retained to appeal the Clean Air Act permit on behalf of citizens in the area and the WV Chapter of the Sierra Club. The Environmental Protection Agency, National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have all joined the Center and others in filing comments and concerns about the impact the proposed coal-fired Longview Plant will have on the Class I wilderness areas in the region. We are doing the preliminary work necessary to prepare for an appeal if and when a permit is issued to Longview.
Ozone.
Last year the American Lung Association "flunked" all EPA-monitored WV counties for too many unhealthy high ozone days. In these seven counties alone, 45,000 children and elderly citizens have asthma, 20,000 struggle with chronic bronchitis, and 7,000 are fighting emphysema. Center staff continues to monitor the development of West Virginia's plan to control and monitor harmful ozone in our air, and have filed comments on DEP's data submission to the EPA for mobile sources. We have made State compliance with federal ozone standards one of our most important goals over the next two years. The large number of outdated and dirty coal-fired power plants in the region will make State compliance with these crucial standards a challenge. We intend to assure that State regulators are up to this challenge of forcing a very powerful industry to comply with the Clean Air Act.
Outreach with State and National Groups.
The Center is involved in research, outreach and networking with the state asthma network and national organizations working on cleaning up the nation's air. The West Virginia Asthma Network, an organization of which the Center is a member, released its Burden Report outlining the epidemic asthma rates in West Virginia. West Virginia ranks sixth in the nation for the number of people suffering from asthma. Studies have shown that emissions from coal- fired power plants can aggravate and cause asthma. More than 1.6 million of West Virginia's 1.8 million people live within a 30-mile radius of a coal-fired power plant.
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