Coffeen Power Station
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Coffeen Power Station is a retired coal-fired power station near Coffeen, Illinois.
The power station was retired on November 1, 2019.[1]
Contents
Location
The undated satellite photo below shows the location of the now retired plant, south of Coffeen near Coffeen Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area in Montgomery County, Illinois.
Plant Data
- Owner/Parent Company: Vistra Energy
- Plant Nameplate Capacity: 1,005 MW
- Units and In-Service Dates: 389 MW (1965), 617 MW (1972)
- Location: 134 Cips Ln., Coffeen, IL 62017
- GPS Coordinates: 39.058611, -89.40305
- Coal Consumption:
- Coal Source:
- Number of Employees:
- Unit Retirements: Both of the plant's units retired on November 1, 2019.[1]
Retirement
On August 21, 2019, plant owner Vistra announced that the power plant will be retired before the end of 2019 if it is determined that the unit is not needed for network reliability. Vistra Energy said it needed to close the plant to meet the requirements of the recently approved revisions to the Multi-Pollutant Standard rule of the Illinois Pollution Control Board.[2]
The power station was retired on November 1, 2019.[1]
Ownership
Formerly run by Central Illinois Public Service Company and later Ameren, Ameren sold the plant to Dynegy in 2013.[3]
On April 9, 2018, Texas-based Vistra Energy, the parent company for TXU Energy and Luminant, announced it had completed its merger with Dynegy. Vistra Energy will be the name of the combined company moving forward.[4]
Emissions Data
- 2006 CO2 Emissions: 6,843,640 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions: 22,007 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
- 2006 NOx Emissions: 11,680 tons
- 2005 Mercury Emissions: 80 lb.
Pollution controls
At the end of 2009 it was announced that Ameren Energy Resources had spent US$1 billion for the installation of scrubbers at two of its facilities, including the Duck Creek Station and the Coffeen Power Station. The scrubbers reduce nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions.[5]
Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Coffeen
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.[6] 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.[7]
Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Coffeen Power Station
| Type of Impact | Annual Incidence | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths | 28 | $210,000,000 |
| Heart attacks | 43 | $4,700,000 |
| Asthma attacks | 480 | $25,000 |
| Hospital admissions | 21 | $470,000 |
| Chronic bronchitis | 17 | $7,700,000 |
| Asthma ER visits | 30 | $11,000 |
Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed March 2011
Articles and Resources
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Coffeen Power Plant Closed," WGEL, Nov 5, 2019
- ↑ "Vistra Energy to Close Four Illinois Power Plants," Vistra Energy, August 21, 2019
- ↑ Yeagle, Patrick (December 12, 2013). "Power plant giveaway wins pollution pass", Illinois Times. Retrieved on October 19, 2017.
- ↑ "Vistra / Dynegy Merger," Vistra Energy website, accessed August 2018
- ↑ AER invests $1 billion in environmental upgrades in Illinois, TradingMarkets.com, accessed January 2010.
- ↑ "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
- 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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