Boswell Energy Center
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Clay Boswell Energy Center was a 1,072.5-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power station owned and operated by ALLETE near Cohasset, Minnesota.
Contents
Location
Plant Data
- Owner: Minnesota Power
- Parent Company: ALLETE
- Plant Nameplate Capacity: 1,072.5 MW (Megawatts)
- Units and In-Service Dates: Unit 1: 75.0 MW (1958), Unit 2: 75.0 MW (1960), Unit 3: 364.5 MW (1973), Unit 4: 558.0 MW (1980)
- Location: 1210 NW 3rd St., Cohasset, MN 55721
- GPS Coordinates: 47.260705, -93.653845
- Technology: Subcritical
- Coal type: Sub-bituminous
- Coal Consumption:
- Coal Source: Antelope Coal Mine (Cloud Peak), Spring Creek Mine (Cloud Peak), Decker Mine (Cloud Peak), Black Thunder Mine (Arch Coal)[1]
- Number of Employees:
- Unit Retirements: Unit 1 & 2 were retired in December 2018
Unit Retirements
In October 2016, Minnesota Power announced it will close Unit 1 & 2 at Boswell Energy Center by 2018. The units were built in 1958 and 1960.[2]
Units 1 & 2 were retired in December 2018.[3]
Emissions Data
- 2006 CO2 Emissions: 8,107,209 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions: 20,407 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
- 2006 NOx Emissions: 13,603 tons
- 2005 Mercury Emissions: 279 lb.
Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Boswell Energy Center
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 Boswell Energy Center
| Type of Impact | Annual Incidence | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths | 55 | $400,000,000 |
| Heart attacks | 87 | $9,500,000 |
| Asthma attacks | 910 | $47,000 |
| Hospital admissions | 40 | $930,000 |
| Chronic bronchitis | 34 | $15,000,000 |
| Asthma ER visits | 56 | $20,000 |
Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed February 2011
Coal Waste Sites
- Clay Boswell Energy Center Central Wastewater Treatment Pond
- Clay Boswell Energy Center Coal Pile Sump
- Clay Boswell Energy Center Inactive Units 1, 2 & 3 Bottom Ash Pond
- Clay Boswell Energy Center Unit 3 Fly Ash Pond
- Clay Boswell Energy Center Units 1, 2 & 4 Fly Ash and Scrubber Slurry Pond
- Clay Boswell Energy Center Units 1-4 Bottom Ash Pond
Boswell ranked 18th 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]
Boswell Energy Center ranked number 18 on the list, with 2,009,628 pounds of coal combustion waste released to surface impoundments in 2006.[6]
Articles and Resources
Sources
- ↑ "EIA 923 april 2019" EIA 923 2019.
- ↑ Dan Kraker, "Minnesota Power to shut down two coal generators early," MPR News, Oct 19, 2016
- ↑ "165 FERC ¶ 61,278," FERC, Dec 31, 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.
- 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.
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