THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 2009
NEWS
7A
Chance Dibben/KANSAN
According to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the Lawrence Energy Center, shown here from the south, released about 8,300 tons of pollutants into the air in 2007. The Environmental Integrity Project from the same year ranked the center as the 12th-driest coal-fired plant in the country.
4,600 tons of NOx, nitrogen oxide. 440 tons of PM, particulate matter. 2,500 tons of SOx (sulphur oxide). 550 tons of CO (Carbon monoxide). 66 tons of VOC (Volatile organic compounds.)
In one year, the Lawrence Energy Center emits the following amounts of pollutants:
of these monitored pollutants are considered criteria pollutants, which the EPA regulates and sets strict limitations on because of their abundance and ability to harm human health and the environment.
Source: Kansas Department of Health and Environment
DID YOU KNOW...
Will Stone with KDHE said each
Source: Bill Eastman, director of environmental services for Westar
The Lawrence Energy Center burns 2 to 3 million tons of coal each year.
WHAT ARE YOU BREATHING?
EPA studies show that air pollution from power plants triggers asthma attacks, bronchitis and heart disease, and contributes to about 30,000 premature deaths a year.
Source: The Environmental Integrity Project
CAN'T TEACH AN OLD PLANT NEW TRICKS
According to the American Lung Association, 65 percent of electric utility plants were built before enactment of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977. Some of the older power plants emit harmful pollutants at four to 10 times the rate allowable for new plants built today. Newer plants are held to
Mercury: Can lead to tremors, mood swings, nervousness, insomnia, muscle weakness, headaches, twitching and lower cognitive function.
health and environmental costs per megawatt-hour arise from coal-fired plants. A megawatt-hour is a term used to explain how many millions of watts can be produced in an hour. Allegrucci said officials ought to take that into account in deciding whether to license any new plants in the state.
stricter standards, but that's not the case with coal-fired plants such as the Lawrence Energy Center, which was built in 1971. Older plants are "grandfathered," meaning they are held only to the standards that were in place when they were built.
Lead: Can prevent normal functioning of the nervous system, kidneys and blood cells. In children it can slow mental development, shorten attention spans and cause behavioral problems.
Sulphur oxides: Can cause or worsen asthma, especially in sensitive groups such as children, the elderly and people with heart or lung disease.
WHAT CAN COAL-PLANT POLLUTANTS DO TO YOU?
PCBs (Polychlorinated biphenyl) Have been shown to cause cancer, as well as adversely affect the nervous, immune and reproductive
Almost 15 percent of Douglas County residents currently have asthma or have at one point been diagnosed.
systems
"Just when looking at the two coal plants proposed for Holcomb, you'd be talking about something along the lines of $5 billion annually in costs of health care-related issues that come from burning coal," Allegrucci said. "That doesn't show up in the utilities' bottom line. They don't pay those health costs — we do. We have to look at all the costs that we're actually paying."
Nitrogen oxides: Can damage lung tissue and worsen asthma, especially in susceptible people such as children and the elderly. Nitrogen and sulphur oxides also contribute to acid rain, which causes water bodies to become acidic.
Source: www.epa.gov
BY THE NUMBERS
Though $5 billion in additional costs of a coal plant seems overwhelming, Allegrucci said it was a low-end estimate. A similar study in Ontario, Canada, in 2004 estimated health and environmental costs to be $127 per megawatt hour, more than six times the amount figured by the EPA estimate.
WHAT IS THE LEC DOING TO CLEAN UP?
"We're all on
Allegrucci said health effects mostly included respiratory and heart disease, and environmental costs come from contamination and cleanup of water and the surrounding environment.
"If you have water you can't use for human consumption or if something makes the fish iedible, it's the loss of the use of the resource." Allergucci said.
He said two of the three stack units of the LEC were equipped with scrubbers that removed regulated pollutants such as sulphur oxides.
Bill Eastman is responsible for the environmental regulations and requirements for Westar.
this earth together, and we've got to work together to figure out a path forward." Eastman said. "With the technology now, we've got to figure out how to move forward with out current mix until our technology changes. We're heavily reliant on coal. We've got to have a fuel, and we're obliged to provide it."
Despite Allegrucci's desire for less coal and more renewable forms of energy, he said he understood that the coal-fired plants didn't deserve all the blame.
The LEC was considered the 12th dirtiest coal-fired plant in the nation in 2007.
"The providers of electrical energy are just doing what they've been asked to do." Allegrucci said. "We haven't asked them to account for those costs, but I think we're moving in that direction."
A chemical reaction in the stacks turns sulphur into calcium sulphate, a solid that can be removed.
Scrubbers, Eastman said, scrub the gas that rises through the stacks.
This chemical solidification of the pollutants doesn't mean the pollutants go away. The solids are then added to water and permanently stored in an on-site landfill.
$300 million by 2013 to further reduce emissions by making more upgrades. Eastman said the LEC has been on a downward trend in its emissions for years, and more plans are in the works to ensure it only gets cleaner with time.
Unit No. 5, the tallest of the three stacks, has what is called a low NOx, or nitrogen oxide, burner, which keeps the nitrogen oxides from forming when coal is being burned.
WHAT'S NEXT?
"You'd be talking about something along the lines of $5 billion annually in costs of health care-related issues that come from burning coal."
In addition to these emission-controlling efforts, Eastman said the LEC would spend more than
SCOTT ALLEGRUCCI GPACE director
Westar Energy plans to spend more than $300 million to make further upgrades to the LEC.
After the April 17 EPA finding that greenhouse gases could prove
dangerous to public health, Eastman said meeting new emission regulations might be in the near future for the LEC.
"Any new regulatory process would impact the company, and that's just part of it," Eastman said. "We're trying to get ourselves geared up for that."
Cathy Milbourn, spokeswoman for the EPA, said the April 17 endangerment finding came after two years of scientific research
"Any new regulatory process would impact the company ... We're trying to get ourselves geared up for that."
BILL EASTMAN Westar Energy
Section 202
A states that the EPA administrator should set limits on motor vehicle
ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2007, Massachusetts sued the EPA for violating section 202 A of the Clean Air Act.
emissions, which included greenhouse gases, that are considered an
Never regulations would require the LEC to make improvements, but some say it's been doing a good job already. Calwell, from Friends of the
endangement to public health and welfare. The Supreme Court found that greenhouse gases should be covered by the Clean Air Act, so the EPA had to determine whether greenhouse gases really did pose a threat to public health, which the endangement finding showed was the case.
Milbourn said the finding was the first step in getting greenhouse gases, which have never before had emission limitations, regulated similarly to other pollutants.
Huggins, with the Kansas Biological Survey, said the real problem at hand was the coal industry as a whole, not just the LEC.
"Until we find an alternative, that's just the price we pay for cheap energy," Huggins said. "No one wants to hear about giving something up"
Kaw, said she thought the river had gotten considerably cleaner in the past five to 10 years, in part because of upgrades made at the LEC.
New EPA regulations would be sure to paint a prettier picture for all the friends of the Kaw.
Edited by Tara Smith
Chance Dibhen/KANSAN
Louis Martin, right, and Donald Barker, left, both Leavenworth residents, fish in the Kansas River on Monday afternoon. Martin, who fishes in the river often, said that even though he did not consume the fish he caught, he still was unaware of the danger of eating large bottom-feedings fish caught below the Bowersock Dam.