Leland Olds Station
{{#badges: CoalSwarm}} Leland Olds Station is a 656.0-megawatt (MW) lignite coal-fired power station owned and operated by Basin Electric Power Cooperative near Stanton, North Dakota.
Contents
- 1 Location
- 2 Plant Data
- 3 Emissions Data
- 4 Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Leland Olds Station
- 5 Coal Waste Sites
- 6 Leland Olds ranked 19th on list of most polluting power plants in terms of coal waste
- 7 Coal Ash Waste and Groundwater Contamination at Leland Olds
- 8 Other coal waste sites
- 9 Articles and Resources
Location
Plant Data
- Owner: Basin Electric Power Cooperative
- Parent Company: Basin Electric Power Cooperative
- Plant Nameplate Capacity: 656.0 MW (Megawatts)
- Units and In-Service Dates: Unit 1: 216.0 MW (1966), Unit 2: 440.0 MW (1975)
- Location: 3901 Hwy. 200A, Stanton, ND 58571
- GPS Coordinates: 47.281667, -101.319444
- Technology: Subcritical
- Coal type: Lignite
- Coal Consumption:
- Coal Source: Freedom Mine (Dakota Coal)[1]
- Number of Employees:
- Unit Retirements:
Emissions Data
- 2006 CO2 Emissions: 4,808,205 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions: 40,027 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
- 2006 NOx Emissions: 9,429 tons
- 2005 Mercury Emissions: 340 lb.
Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Leland Olds Station
n 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 Leland Olds 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 Leland Olds Station
| Type of Impact | Annual Incidence | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths | 26 | $190,000,000 |
| Heart attacks | 40 | $4,400,000 |
| Asthma attacks | 440 | $23,000 |
| Hospital admissions | 19 | $440,000 |
| Chronic bronchitis | 16 | $7,100,000 |
| Asthma ER visits | 26 | $10,000 |
Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed February 2011
Coal Waste Sites
Leland Olds ranked 19th 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.[4] The data came from the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) for 2006, the most recent year available.[5]
Leland Olds Station ranked number 19 on the list, with 1,937,821 pounds of coal combustion waste released to surface impoundments in 2006.[4]
Coal Ash Waste and Groundwater Contamination at Leland Olds
In August 2010 a study released by the Environmental Integrity Project, the Sierra Club and Earthjustice reported that North Dakota, along with 34 states, had significant groundwater contamination from coal ash that is not regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The report, in an attempt to pressure the EPA to regulate coal ash, noted that most states do not monitor drinking water contamination levels near waste disposal sites.[6] The report mentioned North Dakota's Antelope Valley Station and Leland Olds Station as sites that have groundwater contamination due to coal ash waste.[7]
Other coal waste sites
To see a nationwide list of over 350 coal waste sites in the United States, click here. To see a listing of coal waste sites in a particular state, click on the map:
<us_map redirect=":Category:Existing coal waste sites in {state}"></us_map>
Articles and Resources
Sources
- ↑ "EIA 923 april 2019" EIA 923 2019.
- ↑ "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
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 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.
- ↑ "Study of coal ash sites finds extensive water contamination" Renee Schoff, Miami Herald, August 26, 2010.
- ↑ "Enviro groups: ND, SD coal ash polluting water" Associated Press, August 24, 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.
- Carbon Monitoring for Action database, accessed Feb. 2009.
Related SourceWatch Articles
- Existing U.S. Coal Plants
- North Dakota and coal
- Basin Electric Power Cooperative
- United States and coal
- Global warming
External Articles
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