JANUARY 15, 2009 ISSUE
Judge to TVA: Clean Up North Carolina’s Air
Federal Judge Rules in Favor of NC in Suit Against TVA
On Tuesday, January 13, a federal district judge ruled in favor of North Carolina in its case against the Tennessee Valley Authority, requiring TVA to clean up the coal-fired power plants that pollute North Carolina’s air.
U.S. District Court Judge Lacy Thornburg found that pollution from four TVA plants harms the health, economy and natural resources in North Carolina, and the ruling sets specific time limits for pollution reductions at those plants.
North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper filed suit against TVA in January 2006, alleging that TVA’s coal-fired power plants were a public nuisance. Cooper’s complaint cited urgent environmental and health concerns in the state because of air pollution emitted by TVA’s plants in other states.
TVA denied the allegations, maintaining that North Carolina’s adverse environmental and health effects were attributable to the state’s own electric utilities and vehicle emissions.
The judge came down on North Carolina’s side. “Emissions from a source located outside a state, particularly an upwind source, can still have significant impacts on that state’s air quality,” Judge Thornburg wrote in the ruling.
TVA generates most of its electricity at 11 coal-fired power plants: 7 in Tennessee, 2 in Kentucky and 2 in Alabama. These 11 plants contain 59 electrical generating units (EGUs), all of which are at least 35 years old and several much older than that.
The process of burning coal releases nitrogen, sulfur and mercury. The released nitrogen combines with oxygen to form nitrogen oxide. Sulfur dioxide is another byproduct of coal combustion. A third combustion component is mercury particles that frequently attach to a primary particulate matter and head up and out of the smokestack along with the nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide. Other mercury particles are converted into gas and also exit via the smokestack.
These three are the primary pollutants, but also at issue in the suit were the secondary pollutants of ozone, nitrate and sulfate, the latter two being components of acid rain.
Technology currently exists to remove 80 to 98 percent of these pollutants from plant emissions.
Scrubbers—flue gas desulferizers—use chemical processes to remove sulfur dioxide from the flue gas.
Selective catalytic reduction (SCRs) and selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) pollution control mechanisms convert nitrogen oxide to molecular nitrogen and water that have no air pollution impact.
Scrubbers and SCRs also remove significant amounts of mercury from the smokestack plume. But the technology is expensive. North Carolina’s experts estimated the cost of abatement measures at the 11 plants at $3 billion. TVA’s experts estimated the cost at $5 billion.
The court agreed that these pollutants contribute to an increased risk of premature mortality; to an increase of asthma, chronic bronchitis and other cardiopulmonary illnesses; to the phenomenon of acid deposition on the ground that makes the soil more acidic; and to visibility because of the way it scatters the light.
“An observer of a scenic vista would experience this scattering of light as haze,” the ruling notes, citing several of western North Carolina’s wilderness areas, including Grandfather Mountain, and pointing out that these areas contain countless scenic vistas that are vulnerable to the effects of particulate-induced haze.
Cooper sought a ruling for abatement measures at all 11 TVA plants, but the court didn’t go that far. Four plants in the TVA system are within 100 miles of North Carolina: John Sevier, Bull Run and Kingston in Tennessee and Widows Creek in Alabama. The judge found that the data presented showed significant impact on air quality in North Carolina from these four plants, but ruled that TVA’s other seven plants “do not have nearly the same impact on North Carolina’s air as the easternmost four.”
The court mandated the following abatement measures at the four plants within 100 miles of the state:
Bull Run: Complete the installation of a scrubber that was under construction at the time of the trial. Bull Run has one EGU and has an SCR in place.
Kingston: Complete the installation of two scrubbers currently under construction sufficient to cover all nine EGUs by December 31, 2010. One scrubber is scheduled to go online in 2009, the other in 2010.
John Sevier: Install scrubbers and SCRs sufficient to clean all four units by December 31, 2011. The plant currently has no scrubbers or SCRs. One of the units has an SNCR, and TVA said it will build SNCRs for the other three units that will operate while the SCR equipment is being built.
Widows Creek: Install scrubbers and SCRs on six units that currently have no scrubbers or SCRs by December 31, 2013. The plant has eight EGUs. One unit has an SCR and a recently modernized scrubber; another unit has an SCR and an old scrubber that is schedule to be modernized.
TVA must pay the costs of installation, maintenance and year-round operation of these pollution control technologies. The estimated cost of the scrubbers and SCRs cited in the court ruling is $1,003,625,000.
The ruling also specifies the maximum allowable emissions for each pollutant at each plant. TVA must provide the court with a semiannual report of its progress in complying with the order, with the first report due July 1, 2009.
NC Department of Justice Public Information Officer Noelle Talley said TVA’s lawyers are studying the ruling and have not yet indicated any plans for appeal.
This week’s ruling adds another problem to TVA’s growing list.
A massive coal ash flood at the Kingston plant on December 22 sent 1.1 billion gallons of ash and sludge into a rural neighborhood surrounding the plant. TVA estimates it is spending approximately $1 million per day on the cleanup.
In a second incident, about 10,000 gallons spilled from a gypsum waste pond at the Widows Creek power station on January 9.
In a statement, Cooper said, “I’m pleased that the court ordered the TVA to clean up the air pollution coming from its plants closest to North Carolina. This will help our air, our health, and our travel and tourism economy.”
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