Coyote Station

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Coyote Station is a 450.0-megawatt (MW) lignite coal-fired power station owned and operated by Otter Tail Power near Beulah, North Dakota.

Location

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Plant Data

  • Owner: Otter Tail Power
  • Parent Company: Otter Tail Power
  • Plant Nameplate Capacity: 450.0 MW (Megawatts)
  • Units and In-Service Dates: Unit 1: 450.0 MW (1981)
  • Location: 6240 13th St. SW, Beulah, ND 58523
  • GPS Coordinates: 47.221586, -101.815566
  • Technology: Subcritical
  • Coal type: Lignite
  • Coal Consumption:
  • Coal Source: Coyote Creek Mine (Coyote Creek Mining)[1]
  • Number of Employees:
  • Unit Retirements:

Emissions Data

  • 2006 CO2 Emissions: 3,658,089 tons
  • 2006 SO2 Emissions: 11,472 tons
  • 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
  • 2006 NOx Emissions: 11,291 tons
  • 2005 Mercury Emissions: 300 lb.

Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Coyote 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.[2] The study found that over 13,000 deaths and tens of thousands of cases of chronic bronchitis, acute bronchitis, asthma-related episodes and asthma-related emergency room visits, congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, dysrhythmia, ischemic heart disease, chronic lung disease, peneumonia each year are attributable to fine particle pollution from U.S. coal-fired power plants. Fine particle pollution is formed from a combination of soot, acid droplets, and metals formed from sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and soot. Among those particles, the most dangerous are the smallest (smaller than 2.5 microns), 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. 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. The table below estimates the death and illness attributable to Coyote Station. 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.[3]

Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from the Coyote Station

Type of Impact Annual Incidence Valuation
Deaths 16 $120,000,000
Heart attacks 25 $2,800,000
Asthma attacks 280 $15,000
Hospital admissions 12 $280,000
Chronic bronchitis 10 $4,500,000
Asthma ER visits 17 $6,000

Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed February 2011

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