Mount Tom Station
{{#badges: CoalSwarm|Navbar-CoalPlants}} Mount Tom Station is a coal-fired power station owned and operated by GDF Suez in Massachusetts.
Contents
Location
The undated satellite photo below shows the power station near Holyoke.
Closure
In June 2014 GDF Suez said the plant, which has been in operation since 1960, will close in October 2014 after more than three years of on-and-off operation. GDF Suez spokesperson Carol Churchill said the Holyoke plant cannot compete with cheaper natural gas, and confirmed that the company will consider converting the plant to producing electricity from solar energy. In 2013 legislation enabled the state’s Clean Energy Center to allot $100,000 to Holyoke to work on shaping plans for reuse of the Mount Tom site in the event of its closing. GDF Suez had earlier sought approval to halt power production in 2016-17.[1]
Plant Data
- Owner: FirstLight Power
- Parent Company: GDF Suez
- Plant Nameplate Capacity: 136 MW (Megawatts)
- Units and In-Service Dates: 136 MW (1960)
- Location: 200 Northampton St., Holyoke, MA 01040
- GPS Coordinates: 42.280833, -72.605278
- Coal Consumption:
- Coal Source:
- Number of Employees:
Emissions Data
- 2006 CO2 Emissions: 1,166,926 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions:
- 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
- 2006 NOx Emissions:
- 2005 Mercury Emissions:
In 2007, the Mount Tom station was the second largest source of pollution in Massachusetts.[2] The plant was the source of 489,104 pounds of the 26.7 million pounds of chemicals released in the state in 2007.[2]
Coal waste Sites
- Mount Tom Station Bottom Ash Basin
- Mount Tom Station Equalization Tank
- Mount Tom Station Special Basin
EPA Violations
According to New York Times compilation of 2009 EPA data the plant has violated the Clean Water Act 186 times without paying any fines.
In 2011, after a $55 million investment in pollution controls, the plant reached an agreement with the office of the state attorney general and the DEP to pay penalties for thousands of Clean Air Act violations from 2005 to 2010.[1]
Protests against Mount Tom
March 1, 2009: Activists rally against coal in Massachusetts
In solidarity with the Capital Climate Action on March 2, protests were held in Massachusetts at the Dominion's Salem Harbor and Brayton Point plants, NRG's Somerset plant, and Northeast Utilities' Mount Tom plant.[3] Approximately sixty people gathered at the Mount Tom plant in Holyoke.[3] In Salem, about forty people rallied and speakers, such as Aviva Chomsky, were featured; the event was organized by HealthLink.[3] In Somerset, seventy-five people rallied in a park within sight of both of the town's coal-fired power plants.[3]
Articles and Resources
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Larry Parnass, "Mt. Tom coal plant to close in October; environmentalists celebrate," Gazettenet.com, June 3, 2014.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Community-specific chemical release data available for Massachusetts- New England continues trend of lower releases to air, land, and water", Environmental Protection Agency Region 1, March 20, 2009.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Massachusetts rallying to stop coal!", Secure Green Future website, accessed March 23, 2009.
- 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
- Massachusetts and coal
- Northeast Utilities
- United States and coal
- Global warming
