Montour Steam Station

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{{#badges: CoalSwarm}} Montour Steam Electric Station is a coal-fired power station owned and operated by PPL near Washingtonville, Pennsylvania.

In 2016 plant owner Talen Energy planned to modify the plant to also burn natural gas, but later put a hold on the plans, saying it wanted to first evaluate the use of both gas and coal at its Brunner Island Power Station.Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag

Location

The plant is located in Montour County, Pennsylvania.

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Plant Data

  • Owner: Talen Energy
  • Parent Company: Riverstone Holdings
  • Plant Nameplate Capacity: 1,758 MW
  • Units and In-Service Dates: 865 MW (1971), 893 MW (1973)
  • Location: 18 McMichael Rd., Washingtonville, PA 17884
  • GPS Coordinates: 41.069722, -76.66583
  • Coal Consumption:
  • Coal Source:
  • Number of Employees:

Ownership

The plant was owned by PPL. On June 10, 2014, PPL announced that it would spin off its competitive energy business which would merge with Riverstone Holdings' operations to create Talen Energy.[1] Talen Energy launched on June 1, 2015.[2]

Emissions Data

  • 2006 CO2 Emissions: 9,877,806 tons
  • 2006 SO2 Emissions: 129,357 tons
  • 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
  • 2006 NOx Emissions: 13,674 tons
  • 2005 Mercury Emissions: 312 lb.

Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Montour Plant

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.[3] 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.[4]

Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Montour Steam Station

Type of Impact Annual Incidence Valuation
Deaths 34 $250,000,000
Heart attacks 59 $6,400,000
Asthma attacks 530 $28,000
Hospital admissions 27 $620,000
Chronic bronchitis 20 $9,.000,000
Asthma ER visits 22 $8,000

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

Articles and Resources

Sources

  1. "PPL Corp. to Spin off Units, Form New Co. with Riverstone", Zacks Equity Research (June 10, 2014). Retrieved on September 1, 2015. 
  2. "Talen Energy to launch June 1", The Morning Call (April 29, 2015). Retrieved on May 4, 2015. 
  3. "The Toll from Coal: An Updated Assessment of Death and Disease from America's Dirtiest Energy Source," Clean Air Task Force, September 2010.
  4. "Technical Support Document for the Powerplant Impact Estimator Software Tool," Prepared for the Clean Air Task Force by Abt Associates, July 2010

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