General Coal Issues

ACTION: Send a message urging the PA-DEP to provide the strongest pollution limits to all coal-fired power plants.

A new two-minute video from the Sierra Club encapsulates all that is wrong with our reliance on coal for power generation. Part of the problem is the emission of sulfur dioxide, with the Homer City Generating Station in Indiana County having been the largest source of SO2 emissions in the country. Now the plant has installed new scrubbers in accord with a DEP agreement, and the Sierra Club has dropped its lawsuit regarding the permitting of the plant’s upgrade.

Photo: Mountain Justice

On the heels of the April 23 activist-aborted PNC bank shareholders meeting, the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), Sierra Club, and BankTrack issued their 2013 coal report card. Titled “Extreme Investments: U.S Banks and the Coal Industry”, the authors found that PNC followed Bank of America, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase with a ‘C’ for lending and underwriting for companies using mountaintop removall and an ‘F’ for financing companies that transport coal. (more…)

Photo: Mountain Justice

On April 23 a U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed that the EPA has the authority to veto mountain top removal (MTR) permits after they have been granted by an agency such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. As Mary Anne Hitt of the Beyond Coal Campaign wrote: “This is a major milestone in the fight to end the destructive practice of mountaintop removal mining. The Spruce Mine – the focus of this case – was the largest mountaintop removal permit ever proposed in West Virginia history, and its valley fills would have buried more than six miles of streams.” Rep Nick Rahall (D-WV) vowed to introduce legislation to lessen EPA’s power. (more…)

Little Blue Run impoundment. Photo: LBRAG

In a major move, the EPA has proposed four options for regulating the discharge into streams and rivers of toxic wastewater from nuclear and fossil fuel power plants. Resulting from a lawsuit by the Sierra Club and others in the US Court of Appeals, the court-ordered measure requires the EPA to select one of the four options by May, 2014. Power plant operators would likely prefer no regulation, but from the environmental viewpoint, only one of the four options appears to be acceptable. If the EPA chooses the right option, the use of impoundments like the Little Blue Run will be curtailed.

Artwork: Mike LaMark

On April 17 a group of states and cities, as well as NRDC, EDF, and the Sierra Club, issued a notice of intent to sue the EPA after the agency missed an April 13 deadline for new CO2 emission standards for new power plants. This is the second time the Obama administration has chosen to postpone new standards that were announced in March 2012 following a 2007 Supreme Court ruling. Emissions from coal-fired power plants constitute the single largest source of GHG emissions.

Demonstrators outside office of Rep. Tim Murphy, April 1, 2013

On April 1 local activists rallied outside Congressman Tim Murphy’s office in Mount Lebanon and called for him to better protect public health and end his ties to the dirty coal industry. Rep. Murphy has repeatedly voted against policies that would limit harmful air pollution from sources like coal plants, although his district suffers from some of the worst air pollution in the nation. Both Allegheny and Westmoreland counties have failing or near failing air quality, exceeding safe levels of soot and smog that can cause lung disease, heart attacks and severe asthma attacks. (more…)

Little Blue Run impoundment. Photo: LBRAG

For years citizens in Beaver County have fought the use of the Little Blue Run impoundment for the dumping of toxic coal ash from the Bruce Mansfield power plant. In an ironic twist, the owners of the power plant, First Energy, now plans to ship the coal ash from the Bruce Mansfield plant 96 miles up stream to a site on the banks of the Monongahela River at La Belle. Last month the residents off La Belle protested the dumping of coal ash from the Mitchell power plant. In another touch of irony, shipping the toxic coal ash up river by barge does not require a US Army Corps of Engineers permit because it is not classified as a hazardous substance. (more…)

Artwork: Mike LaMark

Invoking the Clean Air Act of 1970, on January 4 a three-judge panel in the DC circuit Federal Court of Appeals ruled that the EPA has failed to provide adequate public health protection from unhealthful levels of particulate matter (i.e., soot). The suit was brought by Earthjustice on behalf of American Lung Association, NRDC, Sierra Club, and Medical Advocates for Healthy Air. (more…)

Little Blue Run impoundment. Photo: LBRAG

One of the consequences of using coal to fire power plants is the dumping of toxic coal ash in lagoons (see video). Unfortunately, the Coal Ash Recycling and Oversight Act of 2012 (S.3512) now before the US Senate fails to adequately protect communities, with a lagoon in Beaver County being a case in point. Similar to a House bill passed earlier this year, S.3512 actually weakens EPA oversight of coal ash disposal!

Contact Sens. Casey and Toomey and urge them to 1) oppose any measure to limit EPA’s ability to protect the public health, 2) vote against any attempt to delay or prevent federal legislation of coal ash as a hazardous waste, and 3) send the Coal Ash video to your family, friends, and colleagues. (more…)

The hidden face of coal-fired power plants.
Photo courtesy of Mountain Justice

There is no doubt that burning natural gas instead of coal has a lower impact on the environment and on public health. Less mountain top removal in West Virginia, fewer coal ash slurry lagoons, and healthier air in SW Pennsylvania. So the reported change in fuel from coal to natural gas at several power plants in our region is good news; nine new Pennsylvania gas-fired plants are proposed to replace the twelve coal-fired plants scheduled to be shut down or retired. This will help improve our unhealthy regional air that was described in the Mapping Mortality articles of December 2010. Nevertheless, decision makers should not lose sight of the fact that burning natural gas still contributes significantly to climate change, and the pursuit of a clean-energy economy should remain THE top priority.

A new 78-page report has taken a detailed look at the actual economic benefits and costs of the coal industry to Pennsylvanians, with a finding of a $165 million net cost to the state’s 2011-12 budget. Titled “The Effect of Coal on the Pennsylvania State Budget”, the report was released October 3 by the Center for Coalfield Justice (CCJ) in Washington PA. “This report shows what the coal industry doesn’t want people to realize: this is an industry artificially propped up by government support”, said Patrick Grenter, Executive Director of CCJ. “Our policymakers must look at the facts and costs associated with coal and take steps to protect taxpayers from this costly and destructive industry.” (more…)

NOTE: Rep. Mike Doyle deserves our thanks.

In its final act before the November elections, on September 22 the Republican-lead House passed the “Stop the War on Coal Act” (H.R 3409) by a vote of 233-175. This set of bills would roll back critical laws and safeguards that presently ensure that Americans have access to clean air and drinkable water. The only Congressman from Western Pennsylvania who voted AGAINST this attack on the EPA was Rep. Mike Doyle, and he deserves our thanks. Reps. Altmire and Critz joined 17 other Democrats in voting FOR the bill, which the White House has promised to veto. (See a local response to this ‘War’ at the end of this article. (more…)

ACTION: Urge EPA to appeal the court decision.

Last year the EPA issued the Cross-State Air Pollution (CSAPR) ruling to reduce the air transport of ozone and soot from coal-fired power plants across state borders. EPA justifies the ruling on the basis of savings in lives and reduction of illnesses. Pennsylvania is both a transmitter and receiver of these forms of air pollution. On August 21, the D.C. Circuit Court ruled against the EPA’s CSAPR ruling. Included in those defending the EPA in court were the Sierra Club, EDF, NRDC, and the Amer. Lung Assoc., as well as over a dozen US states and cities. Citizens are now asked to urge the EPA to appeal the Circuit Court’s decision.

Little Blue Run impoundment. Photo: LBRAG

Persistent effort by the Little Blue Regional Action Group (LBRAG) is close to bringing an end to First Energy’s coal slurry pond at the Bruce Mansfield power plant in Shippingport. After more than four years of effort by LBRAG, on July 27 the DEP filed a lawsuit in federal court against First Energy, seeking to close down the Little Blue dump. Below is an account from the President of the Little Blue Regional Action Group. (more…)

On April 3 the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection approved plans to install a $725 million pollution control system at the Homer City coal-fired power plant in Indiana County. This decision, coming after a lawsuit by the Sierra Club and Earthjustice, and a boisterous hearing on March 14, will allow owners, General Electric to lower the emission of sulfur dioxide by 100,000 tons per year, along reductions in mercury emissions. In response to the DEP’s action Randy Francisco, Sierra Club’s Organizing Representative for the region, issued the following statement: (more…)