Rodemacher Power Station

{{#badges: CoalSwarm}} Rodemacher Power Station, also known as the Brame Energy Center, is a coal, natural gas, limestone, biomass and petroleum coke-fired power station owned and operated by Cleco near Lena, Louisiana.

Location

The undated satellite photo below shows the power station in Boyce, Louisiana.

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Plant Data

• Owner: Cleco (30%) and the Power Authority and Lafayette Utilities System (70%)
• Parent Company: Cleco (30%) and the Power Authority and Lafayette Utilities System (70%)
• Plant Nameplate Capacity: 558.0 MW (Megawatts)
• Units and In-Service Dates: Unit 2: 558.0 MW (1982)
• Location: 275 Rodemacher Rd., Lena, LA 71447
• GPS Coordinates: 31.396889, -92.719078
• Technology: Subcritical
• Coal type: Sub Bituminous
• Coal Consumption:
• Coal Source:
• Number of Employees:
• Unit Retirements:

Emissions Data

• 2006 CO₂ Emissions: 4,003,944 tons
• 2006 SO₂ Emissions: 10,837 tons
• 2006 SO₂ Emissions per MWh:
• 2006 NO_x Emissions: 7,967 tons
• 2005 Mercury Emissions: 179 lb.

Units

As of 2015 the power station consists of the following units:

• Nesbitt 1 - 440 MW unit built in 1975 and powered by natural gas.
• Rodemacher 2 (Brame Energy Center 2) - 558.0 MW unit built in 1982 and powered by sub bituminous coal from the powder river basin.
• Madison 3, first known as Rodemacher Unit 3 - 641 MW unit built in 2010 and powered by petroleum coke but can also run on coal and biomass. Every year around 500,000 tons of limestone is added to the fuelmix.

Cleco owns 100% of units 1 and 3 and 30% of unit 2; Power Authority and Lafayette Utilities System own the remaining 70% of unit 2.

Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Rodemacher Power 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. 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.

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

Type of Impact	Annual Incidence	Valuation
Deaths	3	$21,000,000
Heart attacks	4	$440,000
Asthma attacks	50	$3,000
Hospital admissions	2	$47,000
Chronic bronchitis	2	$780,000
Asthma ER visits	3	$1,000

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

Coal Ash Waste and Water Contamination

In August 2010 a study released by the Environmental Integrity Project, the Sierra Club and Earthjustice reported that Louisiana, along with 34 states, had significant groundwater contamination from coal ash that is not currently 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. The report mentioned Louisiana based Big Cajun II Power Plant, Dolet Hills Power Station and the Rodemacher Power Station were three sites that have groundwater contamination due to coal ash waste.

Coal Waste Sites

• Rodemacher Power Station Bottom Ash Pond
• Rodemacher Power Station Fly Ash Pond

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:

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Citizen groups

• Alliance for Affordable Energy
• Gulf Restoration Network
• Louisiana Environmental Action Network
• Sierra Club Delta Chapter

Articles and Resources

Sources

• 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

• Rodemacher Unit 3
• Existing U.S. Coal Plants
• Louisiana and coal
• Cleco
• United States and coal
• Global warming

External Articles

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