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Edison International
From SourceWatch
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This is part of the Center for Media & Democracy's climate change project. |
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| Type | Public (NYSE: EIX) |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | 2244 Walnut Grove Ave. Rosemead, CA 91770 |
| Area served | CA |
| Key people | John E. Bryson, CEO |
| Industry | Electric Producer and Utility |
| Products | Electricity |
| Revenue | $13.05 billion (2007)[1] |
| Net income | ▲ $1.10 billion (2007)[1] |
| Employees | 17,275 |
| Subsidiaries | Southern Calif. Edison Co. Edison Mission Group |
| Website | Edison.com |
Edison International is a privately-owned energy corporation which generates and distributes electricity and invests in infrastructure and energy assets. Its subsidiaries include Southern California Edison, Midwest Generation LLC, and un-regulated non-utility assets Edison Mission Energy, a power producer, and Edison Capital. Edison's roots trace back to Holt & Knupps, a company founded in 1886 as a provider of street lights in Visalia, California.[2]
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Campaign contributions
Edison is a major contributor to both Republican and Democratic candidates for Congress. These contributions total $360,200 to the 110th US Congress (as of the third quarter), the largest of which has been to Arlen Specter (R-PA) for $12,000.
Contributions like this from from fossil fuel companies to members of Congress are often seen as a political barrier to pursuing clean energy. [2]
More information on coal industry contributions to Congress can be found at FollowtheCoalMoney.org, a project sponsored by the nonpartisan, nonprofit Oil Change International and Appalachian Voices.
Lobbyists
Edison International (formerly Southern California Edison) spent $640,000 in the first quarter of 2009 on in-house lobbying team work on climate change issues. The company's registered lobbyist is Michelle Holiday.[3]
CEO compensation
In May 2007, Forbes listed Edison International CEO John E. Bryson as receiving $12.36 million in total compensation for the latest fiscal year, with a five-year total compensation of $52.11 million. He ranked 4th on the list of CEOs in the Utilities industry, and 148th among all CEOs in the United States.[4]
Power portfolio
Out of its total 16,676 MW of electric generating capacity in 2005 (1.56% of the U.S. total), Edison produces 66.4% from coal, 13.5% from nuclear, 9.7% from natural gas, 7.0% from hydroelectricity, 2.5% from oil, and 0.9% from wind. Edison owns power plants in California, Illinois, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Washington, and West Virginia; 41.4% of Edison's energy comes from Illinois, and 30.3% comes from California.[5]
Citizen groups and EPA to file suit against Edison subsidiary Midwest Generation
In July 2009, five groups of environmental and public health advocates announced their intent to file a Clean Air Act lawsuit against Midwest Generation, LLC, a subsidiary of Edison International. The groups say Midwest's six Illinois power plants are decades old and do not have the appropriate pollution controls according to EPA standards. Specifically, the lawsuit will focus on opacity violations, a measurement of the light blocked by particulate matter from smokestacks at Midwest's Crawford, Fisk, Joliet, Powerton, Waukegan, and Will County stations.
The concerned groups include Citizens Against Ruining the Environment, the Environmental Law and Policy Center, Natural Resources Defense Council, the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago, and Sierra Club. The six power plants in question are located in working class and minority neighborhoods, raising concerns about environmental justice. The groups expect to file suit in 60 days, unless Midwest Generation comes into compliance or stops operating, or unless the EPA takes other measures.[6] Shannon Fisk, an attorney for NRDC, described Midwest's Fisk and Crawford plants as, "two dinosaurs in the middle of a large city. They should have cleaned up decades ago. Running those plants is inexpensive for the company, but it's very expensive for public health."[7] A 2001 study by a professor at the Harvard University School of Public Health found that particulate matter from the Fisk and Crawford plants contributes to 41 deaths, 550 emergency room visits, and 2800 asthma attacks each year.[8]
Midwest spokesman Doug MacFarlan said the company is being targeted unfairly, and that Midwest's plants release less particulate matter than most. He also said the company had responded to local complaints by reducing both the amount of coal piled up at Crawford and the dust that blows off barges transporting its coal. "We really believe we have demonstrated environmental responsibility at those plants," McFarlan said. In 2006, Midwest made an agreement with the state of Illinois to reduce emissions at its coal plants. The company has installed mercury controls, but has not decided whether to install scrubbers or shut the plants down. The company has until 2015 to install scrubbers at its Fisk plant and until 2018 at its Crawford plant.[7]
On August 28, 2009, less than a month after the lawsuit was filed, the EPA, Department of Justice, and state of Illinois announced that they would also be filing suit against Midwest Generation for illegal emissions of particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur dioxide.[9]
Existing coal-fired power plants
Edison had 23 coal-fired generating stations in 2005, with 11,071 MW of capacity. Here is a list of Edison's coal power plants with capacity over 100 MW:[5][10][11]
| Plant Name | State | County | Year(s) Built | Capacity | 2007 CO2 Emissions | 2006 SO2 Emissions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homer City Station | PA | Indiana | 1969, 1977 | 2012 MW | 12,800,000 tons | 106,772 tons |
| Powerton | IL | Tazewell | 1972, 1975 | 1786 MW | 9,899,000 tons | 19,860 tons |
| Joliet | IL | Will | 1965, 1966 | 1680 MW | 8,585,000 tons | 14,360 tons |
| Mohave (shut down) | NV | Clark | 1971 | 1636 MW | 0 tons | 0 tons |
| Will County | IL | Will | 1955, 1957, 1963 | 1269 MW | 5,235,000 tons | 17,306 tons |
| Waukegan | IL | Lake | 1952, 1958, 1962 | 803 MW | 4,906,000 tons | 11,815 tons |
| Crawford | IL | Cook | 1958, 1961 | 597 MW | 3,471,000 tons | 9,046 tons |
| Fisk | IL | Cook | 1968 | 374 MW | 1,988,000 tons | 3,146 tons |
In 2006, Edison's 8 major coal-fired power plants (7 of which were operational) emitted 46.9 million tons of CO2 (0.78% of all U.S. CO2 emissions) and 182,000 tons of SO2 (1.22% of all U.S. SO2 emissions).
Citizen action against Edison International
October 24, 2009: Activists protest outside Fisk Generating Station in Chicago, IL
Hundreds of activists gathered to march and rally in front of the Fisk Generating Station in Chicago, IL to observe an international day of action on climate change.[12] At the protest, eight people locked arms and sat down in front of the power plant. All eight were issued citations.[13]
Contact details
Website: http://www.edison.com/
Articles and resources
Related SourceWatch articles
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Edison International, BusinessWeek Company Insight Center, accessed July 2008.
- ↑ Edison International, "Edison International", Edison International website, accessed July 2008.
- ↑ [1], Center for Public Integrity, accessed September 2009.
- ↑ CEO Compensation: #148 John E Bryson, Forbes.com, May 3, 2007.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Existing Electric Generating Units in the United States, 2005, Energy Information Administration, accessed April 2008.
- ↑ Terry Bibo, "Illinois coal plants are being threatened with lawsuit," Journal Star, July 29, 2009.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Kari Lydersen, "'The Clunkers of the Power-Plant World': Old Coal-Fired Facilities Could Escape New Rules," Washington Post, August 17, 2009.
- ↑ Jonathan I. Levy, et al., "Using CALPUFF to evaluate the impacts of power plant emissions in Illinois: Model sensitivity and implications," Atmospheric Environment 36 (2002): 1063–1075.
- ↑ Henry Henderson, "You're Not the King of Me: Midwest Gen Runs Afoul of the Clean Air Act," Huffington Post, August 29, 2009.
- ↑ Environmental Integrity Project, Dirty Kilowatts: America’s Most Polluting Power Plants, July 2007.
- ↑ Dig Deeper, Carbon Monitoring for Action database, accessed June 2008.
- ↑ "Protest at Fisk Generating Station," Chicago Tribune, October 24, 2009.
- ↑ "8 cited during anti-coal protest," Chicago Breaking News Center, October 24, 2009.
External resources
External articles
Wikipedia also has an article on Edison International. This article may use content from the Wikipedia article under the terms of the GFDL.
