Baldwin Energy Station Ash Pond System

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This article is part of the Coal Issues portal on SourceWatch, a project of Global Energy Monitor and the Center for Media and Democracy. See here for help on adding material to CoalSwarm.

Baldwin Energy Station Ash Pond System is a coal ash disposal site associated with Baldwin Energy Station, owned and operated by Dynegy near Baldwin, Illinois.

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Site data

Information below derived from EPA's Coal Ash Survey database;[1] GPS coordinates courtesy of Earthjustice researchers.

  • Owner: Dynegy Midwest Generation
  • Parent company: Dynegy
  • Associated coal plant: Baldwin Energy Station
  • Location: Baldwin, IL
  • GPS coordinates: 38.2039, -89.8542
  • Hazard potential: None
  • Year commissioned: 1970
  • Year(s) expanded: 1989
  • Material(s) stored: Fly ash, Bottom ash, Boiler slag, FGD, Waste waters
  • Professional Engineer (PE) designed?: Yes
  • PE constructed?: Yes
  • PE monitored?: Yes
  • Significant deficiencies identified: None
  • Corrective measures: None
  • Surface area (acres): 492
  • Storage capacity (acre feet): 3957
  • Unit Height (feet): 55
  • Historical releases: None
  • Additional notes: Height for cell 1: 25', cell 2: 40', cell 3: 38', cell 4: 40'

Coal waste in the United States

A January 2009 study by The New York Times following the enormous TVA coal ash spill found that there are more than 1,300 surface impoundments across the U.S. containing coal waste, with some sites as large as 1,500 acres.[2] Also in January 2009, an Associated Press study found that 156 coal-fired power plants store ash in surface ponds similar to the one that ruptured at Kingston Fossil Plant. The states with the most storage in coal ash in ponds are Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia and Alabama. The AP's analysis found that in 2005, 721 power plants generating at least 100 MW of electricity produced 95.8 million tons of coal ash, about 20 percent of which - or almost 20 million tons - ended up in surface ponds. The rest of the ash winds up in landfills or is sold for other uses.[3] In June 2009, EPA released its list of 44 "high hazard potential" coal waste sites, which included 12 sites in North Carolina, 9 in Arizona, 6 in Kentucky, 6 in Ohio, and 4 in West Virginia.[4] The full list is available here.

Citizen groups

Resources

References

  1. Coal Ash Survey Results, Environmental Protection Agency, accessed December 2009.
  2. Shaila Dewan, "Hundreds of Coal Ash Dumps Lack Regulation," New York Times, January 7, 2009.
  3. Dina Cappiello, "Toxic Coal Ash Piling up in Ponds in 32 States," Associated Press, January 9, 2009.
  4. Shaila Dewan, "E.P.A. Lists ‘High Hazard’ Coal Ash Dumps," New York Times, June 30, 2009.

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