Greenpeace activists hold up a banner calling for a stop to the construction of a coal fired power plant in Rayong province on Thailand's eastern seaboard. Greenpeace blames coal fired power plants for releasing dangerous toxins into the surrounding atmosphere and warns that, if built, the proposed plant will emit 229 million tons of Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere in the next 20 years - contributing significantly to global climate change.
Interesting facts about and coal-fired power plants,
mercury, and other pollutants:
- Coal is the number one source of total US electricity production (54%). (Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Outlook, 1998).
- Out of the entire US electric industry, coal-fired power plants contribute 96% of sulfur dioxide emissions (SO2), 93% of nitrogen oxide emissions (NOx), 88% of carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) and 99% of mercury emissions. (Clean the Air, “Power Plant Air Pollution Problem,” Fact sheet).
- Coal-fired power plants are the single largest source of mercury pollution in the US (U.S. EPA, Office of Water, “Air Pollution and Water Quality: Atmospheric Deposition Initiative: Where is the Air Pollution Coming From?”) Available online at http://www.epa.gov/owowwtr1/oceans/airdep/air5html, responsible for 33% of the total mercury emissions from all known manmade sources nationwide. (U.S. EPA, Mercury Report to Congress, 1997, Vol. 1).
- According to the US National Wildlife Federation (NWF), a single 100 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant emits approximately 25 pounds of mercury a year. (National Wildlife Federation, “Clean the Rain, Clean the Lakes: Mecury in Rain is Polluting the Great Lakws,” p. 4, September 1999).
- According to the US Center for Clean Air Policy, 50% of the mercury emitted from coal-fired power plants can travel up to 600 miles from the power plant. (Center for Clean Air Policy, “Power Plant Emissions and Water Quality,” October 1997, Part 1, p.13).
- In 1994, mercury emissions by coal plants in the US reached 51 tons. (U.S. EPA, “Electric Utility Steam Generating Units Hazardous Air Pollutant Emission Study,” (Feb. 24, 1998), p.ES-6, Table ES-2).
- According to NWF, as little as 0.002 pounds of mercury a year can contaminate a 25-acre lake to the point where fish are unsafe to eat. (National Wildlife Federation, “Clean the Rain, Clean the Lakes: Mecury in Rain is Polluting the Great Lakws,” p. 4, September 1999).
- Methylmercury contamination in food sources as low as one part per million has been shown to cause death in some some animals. (Factsheet, Great Waters Program, National Wildlife Federation).
- Coal emits 29% more carbon per unit of energy than oil, and 80% more than natural gas. (Worldwatch Institute, “Phasing out Coal: Environmental Concerns, Subsidy Cuts Fuel Decline,” Press Release). CO2 represents the major portion of greenhouse gases. Over the last 30 years, the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has increased by 30%, (i.e. the human-influenced phenomenon called global warming). Nine of the ten warmest years in recorded history have occurred in the last decade. (Physicians for Social Responsibility, “Death by Degrees: The Emerging Health Crisis of Climate Change in Georgia,” February 2000, p.6.1)
- In 1997, pollution controls from power plants to reduce acid rain cost approximately $100 per ton. (“Heavy Breathing,” National Journal, January 4, 1997)
- Every year, nearly 600 coal and oil-fired power plants produce over 100 million tons of sludge waste. (Citizens
Coal Council, Hoosier Environmental Council, Clean Air Task Force,
“Laid to Waste: The Dirty Secret of Combustion Waste from
America’s Power Plants,” February 2000, p. 1.3) Forty
percent of the coals waste landfills and 80 percent of the coal
waste surface impoundments do not have liners, and less than half
the landfills and only 1 percent of impoundments have groundwater
monitors. (“Fast Facts on Air,” A Sourcebook for the Clean Air Advocate, Clean Air Network, 2000)
Star Power for Clean Power
JayR
Despite his insane schedule, JayR still found time to support the Greenpeace campaign for clean energy. In a 15-second video he recorded for the international environmental group, JayR called on his fans to support Greenpeace and clean energy.
