Apache Generating Station
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Apache Generating Station was a 408-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power station owned and operated by the Arizona Electric Power Cooperative near Cochise, Arizona.
Contents
- 1 Location
- 2 Plant Data
- 3 Unit 2 conversion
- 4 Emissions Data
- 5 Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Apache Station
- 6 Waste Facilities
- 7 Havana ranked 77th on list of most polluting power plants in terms of coal waste
- 8 "High Hazard" Surface Impoundments
- 9 Articles and Resources
Location
Plant Data
- Owner/Parent Company: Arizona Electric Power Cooperative
- Plant Nameplate Capacity: 408.0 MW (Megawatts)
- Units and In-Service Dates: Unit 2: 204.0 MW (1979) Unit 3: 204.0 MW (1979)
- Location: 3525 Highway 191, Cochise, AZ 85606
- GPS Coordinates: 32.0619, -109.8931
- Technology: Subcritical
- Coal type: Sub-bituminous
- Coal Consumption:
- Coal Source: El Segundo mine, Lee Ranch mine[1]
- Number of Employees:
- Unit Retirements: Unit 2 was converted to Natural Gas in 2018.[2]
Unit 2 conversion
The Arizona G&T Cooperatives website reports unit 2 of the power station switched to natural gas in 2018, reducing the plant's capacity to 204 MW. The switch was to comply with EPA's regulation for regional haze.[3]
Emissions Data
- 2006 CO2 Emissions: 3,713,481 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions:
- 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
- 2006 NOx Emissions:
- 2005 Mercury Emissions:
Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Apache Station
In 2010, Abt Associates issued a study commissioned by the Clean Air Task Force, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization, quantifying the deaths and other health effects attributable to fine particle pollution from coal-fired power plants.[4] Fine particle pollution consists of a complex mixture of soot, heavy metals, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. Among these particles, the most dangerous are those less than 2.5 microns in diameter, which are so tiny that they can evade the lung's natural defenses, enter the bloodstream, and be transported to vital organs. Impacts are especially severe among the elderly, children, and those with respiratory disease. The study found that over 13,000 deaths and tens of thousands of cases of chronic bronchitis, acute bronchitis, asthma, congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, dysrhythmia, ischemic heart disease, chronic lung disease, and pneumonia each year are attributable to fine particle pollution from U.S. coal plant emissions. These deaths and illnesses are major examples of coal's external costs, i.e. uncompensated harms inflicted upon the public at large. Low-income and minority populations are disproportionately impacted as well, due to the tendency of companies to avoid locating power plants upwind of affluent communities. To monetize the health impact of fine particle pollution from each coal plant, Abt assigned a value of $7,300,000 to each 2010 mortality, based on a range of government and private studies. Valuations of illnesses ranged from $52 for an asthma episode to $440,000 for a case of chronic bronchitis.[5]
Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Apache Generating Station
| Type of Impact | Annual Incidence | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths | 4 | $30,000,000 |
| Heart attacks | 6 | $690,000 |
| Asthma attacks | 77 | $4,000 |
| Hospital admissions | 3 | $68,000 |
| Chronic bronchitis | 3 | $1,200,000 |
| Asthma ER visits | 4 | $1,000 |
Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed March 2011
(Note: See "discussion" page.)
Waste Facilities
- Apache Generating Station Combustion Waste Disposal Facility Ash Pond 1
- Apache Generating Station Combustion Waste Disposal Facility Ash Pond 2
- Apache Generating Station Combustion Waste Disposal Facility Ash Pond 3
- Apache Generating Station Combustion Waste Disposal Facility Ash Pond 4
- Apache Generating Station Combustion Waste Disposal Facility Coal Pile Retention Basin
- Apache Generating Station Combustion Waste Disposal Facility Cooling Tower Blowdown Pond
- Apache Generating Station Combustion Waste Disposal Facility Evaporation 1
- Apache Generating Station Combustion Waste Disposal Facility Low Volume Wastewater Pond
- Apache Generating Station Combustion Waste Disposal Facility Scrubber Pond 1
- Apache Generating Station Combustion Waste Disposal Facility Scrubber Pond 2
Havana ranked 77th on list of most polluting power plants in terms of coal waste
In January 2009, Sue Sturgis of the Institute of Southern Studies compiled a list of the 100 most polluting coal plants in the United States in terms of coal combustion waste (CCW) stored in surface impoundments like the one involved in the TVA Kingston Fossil Plant coal ash spill.[6] The data came from the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) for 2006, the most recent year available.[7]
Apache Generating Station ranked number 77 on the list, with 360,465 pounds of coal combustion waste released to surface impoundments in 2006.[6]
"High Hazard" Surface Impoundments
Apache Generating Station has 7 coal ash surface impoundments on the EPA's official June 2009 list of Coal Combustion Residue (CCR) Surface Impoundments with High Hazard Potential Ratings. The rating applies to sites at which a dam failure would most likely cause loss of human life, but does not assess of the likelihood of such an event.[8]
(Note: see "discussion" page for AEPCO's response to the EPA dated March 26, 2009.)
Articles and Resources
Sources
- ↑ "EIA 423 and Schedule 2 of EIA-923," EIA 923 Schedules 2, 2011.
- ↑ Jean Chemnick, "Pro-coal law set stage for Clean Power Plan pain in rural Ariz," E&E, July 7, 2015
- ↑ "Apache Generating Station," Arizona G&T Cooperatives website, accessed December 2018
- ↑ "The Toll from Coal: An Updated Assessment of Death and Disease from America's Dirtiest Energy Source," Clean Air Task Force, September 2010.
- ↑ "Technical Support Document for the Powerplant Impact Estimator Software Tool," Prepared for the Clean Air Task Force by Abt Associates, July 2010
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Sue Sturgis, "Coal's ticking timebomb: Could disaster strike a coal ash dump near you?," Institute for Southern Studies, January 4, 2009.
- ↑ TRI Explorer, EPA, accessed January 2009.
- ↑ Coal waste
- Existing Electric Generating Units in the United States, 2005, Energy Information Administration, accessed Jan. 2009.
- Environmental Integrity Project, "Dirty Kilowatts: America’s Most Polluting Power Plants", July 2007.
- Facility Registry System, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, accessed Jan. 2009.
- Carbon Monitoring for Action database, accessed Feb. 2009.
Related SourceWatch Articles
- Existing U.S. Coal Plants
- Arizona and coal
- Arizona Electric Power Cooperative
- United States and coal
- Global warming
- Coal
