McMeekin Station
{{#badges: CoalSwarm}} McMeekin Station was a 294 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power station owned and operated by SCANA near Columbia, South Carolina.[1]
The plant's two coal units were converted to natural gas in 2016.[2][3]
Contents
Plant Data
- Owner: South Carolina Electric & Gas Company
- Parent Company: SCANA
- Plant Nameplate Capacity: 294MW[1]
- Plant output: 250 MW (Megawatts)[4]
- Units and In-Service Dates: 147 MW (1958), 147 MW (1958)
- Location: 2000 North Lake Dr., Columbia, SC 29212
- GPS Coordinates: 34.0533, -81.2178
- Coal Consumption:
- Coal Source:
- Number of Employees:
Emissions Data
- 2006 CO2 Emissions: 1,467,091 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions:
- 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
- 2006 NOx Emissions:
- 2005 Mercury Emissions:
Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from McKeekin 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.[5] 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.[6]
Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from McMeekin Station
| Type of Impact | Annual Incidence | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths | 21 | $160,000,000 |
| Heart attacks | 31 | $3,400,000 |
| Asthma attacks | 360 | $19,000 |
| Hospital admissions | 16 | $360,000 |
| Chronic bronchitis | 13 | $5,800,000 |
| Asthma ER visits | 21 | $8,000 |
Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed February 2011
Passing on the costs of Sulphur regulations
In its 2010 annual report, SCANA noted that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had introduced a rule for a one-hour ambient air quality standard for sulfur dioxide emissions. The company stated that this would have an impact on the McMeekin Station. "Initial evaluation of this new standard," the company stated, "indicated that SCE&G’s McMeekin Station in Lexington County may be required to reduce its sulfur dioxide emissions to a level determined by EPA and/or DHEC. The costs incurred to comply with this new standard are expected to be recovered through rates."[7]
Articles and Resources
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 U.S. Energy Information Administration, "GeneratorY09", Form EIA-860 Annual Electric Generator Report, U.S. Department of Energy, 2009. (This is a spreadsheet within a zipped data file).
- ↑ "Coal Generation," SCE&G, accessed March 2016
- ↑ Corina Rivera Linares, "SCE&G files integrated resource plan in South Carolina," Transmission Hub, 03/01/2016
- ↑ "SCE&G Fossil Fired plants" SCE&G Website, accessed April 2011.
- ↑ "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
- ↑ SCANA Corporation, 10K 2010 Annual Report, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, March 2011, page 28.
- 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.
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