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| − | {{Show badges| CoalSwarm}} | + | {{Moved to GEM}} |
| − | '''Jack McDonough Steam Generating Plant''' is a coal-fired power station owned and operated by [[Southern Company]] near Smyrna, Georgia.
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| − | In August, 2009, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported that [[Georgia Power]] is moving ahead with plans to replace the [[McDonough Steam Generating Plant]] with a natural gas-fired plant and switch its [[Mitchell Steam Generating Plant (Georgia)|Mitchell Steam Generating Plant]] near Albany, Ga., from coal to wood chips.<ref>Dave Flessner, [http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/aug/24/tva-may-shutter-aging-coal-fired-plants/?local "TVA May Shutter Aging Coal Plants,"] Chattanooga Times Free Press, August 24, 2009</ref>
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| − | The power station was retired in 2011-2012.<ref>[https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/eia860/ Form EIA-860 Data - Schedule 3, Generator Data,] US EIA, 2014</ref>
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| − | {{#display_map:
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| − | 33.825806, -84.475667
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| − | ==Plant Data==
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| − | *'''Owner''': [[Georgia Power]] Company
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| − | *'''Parent Company''': [[Southern Company]]
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| − | *'''Plant Nameplate Capacity''': 598 MW (Megawatts)
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| − | *'''Units and In-Service Dates''': 299 MW (1963), 299 MW (1964)
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| − | *'''Location''': 5551 South Cobb Dr., Smyrna, GA 30080
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| − | *'''GPS Coordinates''': 33.822806, -84.475667
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| − | *'''Coal Consumption''':
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| − | *'''Coal Sources (2009)'''<ref>[http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/page/eia906_920.html Energy Information Administration Form 923 for 2009]</ref>
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| − | ** Leeco 64 (Kentucky)
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| − | ** Bledsoe #1 (Kentucky)
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| − | ** [[Alliance Resource Partners|Alliance Resource Cave Branch]] (Kentucky)
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| − | ** [[Cloverlick Mine]] (Kentucky)
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| − | ==Emissions Data==
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| − | *'''2006 CO<sub>2</sub> Emissions''': 3,705,401 tons
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| − | *'''2006 SO<sub>2</sub> Emissions''': 28,835 tons
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| − | *'''2006 SO<sub>2</sub> Emissions per MWh''':
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| − | *'''2006 NO<sub>x</sub> Emissions''': 4,286 tons
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| − | *'''2005 Mercury Emissions''': 116 lb.
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| − | ===Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from McDonough Plant===
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| − | 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 [[Particulates and coal|fine particle pollution]] from coal-fired power plants.<ref>[http://www.catf.us/resources/publications/files/The_Toll_from_Coal.pdf "The Toll from Coal: An Updated Assessment of Death and Disease from America's Dirtiest Energy Source,"] Clean Air Task Force, September 2010.</ref> Fine particle pollution consists of a complex mixture of [[soot]], [[Heavy metals and coal|heavy metals]], [[Sulfur dioxide and coal|sulfur dioxide]], and [[Nitrogen oxide|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 of coal|external costs]], i.e. uncompensated harms inflicted upon the public at large. [[Coal plants near residential areas|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.<ref>[http://www.catf.us/resources/publications/files/Abt-Technical_Support_Document_for_the_Powerplant_Impact_Estimator_Software_Tool.pdf "Technical Support Document for the Powerplant Impact Estimator Software Tool,"] Prepared for the Clean Air Task Force by Abt Associates, July 2010</ref>
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| − | ====Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from McDonough Plant====
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| − | {| class="wikitable"
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| − | !width="120"| Type of Impact!! width="120" | Annual Incidence !! width = "120" | Valuation
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| − | |-
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| − | | Deaths||align="right" |51||align="right" |$380,000,000
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| − | |-
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| − | | Heart attacks||align="right" |72||align="right" |$7,900,000
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| − | |-
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| − | | Asthma attacks||align="right" |880||align="right" |$46,000
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| − | |-
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| − | | Hospital admissions||align="right" |37||align="right" |$860,000
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| − | |-
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| − | | Chronic bronchitis||align="right" |32||align="right" |$14,000,000
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| − | |-
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| − | | Asthma ER visits||align="right" |53||align="right" |$20,000
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| − | |}
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| − | Source: [http://www.catf.us/coal/problems/power_plants/existing/ "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution,"] Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed February 2011
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| − | ==McDonough ranked 84th on list of most polluting power plants in terms of coal waste==
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| − | In January 2009, Sue Sturgis of the Institute of Southern Studies compiled a list of the 100 most polluting coal plants in the United States in terms of [[Coal waste|coal combustion waste]] (CCW) stored in surface impoundments like the one involved in the [[TVA Kingston Fossil Plant coal ash spill]].<ref name="iss">Sue Sturgis, [http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/01/coals-ticking-timebomb-could-disaster-strike-a-coal-ash-dump-near-you.html "Coal's ticking timebomb: Could disaster strike a coal ash dump near you?,"] Institute for Southern Studies, January 4, 2009.</ref> The data came from the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) for 2006, the most recent year available.<ref>[http://www.epa.gov/triexplorer/ TRI Explorer,] EPA, accessed January 2009.</ref>
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| − | McDonough Steam Generating Plant ranked number 84 on the list, with 318,051 pounds of coal combustion waste released to surface impoundments in 2006.<ref name="iss"/>
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| − | ==Legislative issues==
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| − | '''House Bill 276''', proposed by Margaret Oliver (D-Decatur), would put a 5-year moratorium on building new coal plants and eliminate the burning of Appalachian coal mined by [[Mountaintop removal|mountaintop removal]] by mid-2016. The Appalachian Mountain Preservation Act would gradually prohibit Georgia coal consumers from using Central Appalachian mountaintop removal beginning in 2011. The bill is backed by environmental groups including [[Appalachian Voices]] but received strong opposition from [[POWER4Georgians]], a coalition of 10 electric co-operatives seeking to build a $2 billion 850-megawatt supercritical [[Washington Plant|coal plant in Washington County]].<ref>[http://uk.reuters.com/article/behindTheScenes/idUKTRE5130E720090204 "Georgia bill proposes moratorium on new coal plants,"] Reuters, February 4, 2009.</ref><ref>Margaret Newkirk, [http://www.ajc.com/services/content/business/stories/2009/02/04/legcoal0204.html "Bill would restrict coal power plants,"] ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'', February 4, 2009.</ref>
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| − | ==Citizen groups==
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| − | {{#ev:youtube|QAWk8194D3U|400|right|Focus the Nation: Valdosta State University|frame}}
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| − | *[http://cleanpower4georgians.com/ CleanPower4Georgians]
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| − | *[http://www.facenvironment.org/ Fall-line Alliance for Clean Environment]
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| − | *[http://www.focusthenation.org/ Focus the Nation]
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| − | *[[Friends of the Chattahoochee]]
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| − | *[[GreenLaw]]
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| − | *[http://georgia.sierraclub.org/ Sierra Club Georgia Chapter]
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| − | *[http://www.co-opconversations.org/UnitedStates/Georgia/ Co-op Conversations Georgia]
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| − | *[http://www.cobbemcwatch.org/ Cobb Alliance for Smart Energy]
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| − | ==Articles and Resources==
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| − | ===Sources===
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| − | <references/>
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| − | *[http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/epat2p2.html Existing Electric Generating Units in the United States, 2005], Energy Information Administration, accessed Jan. 2009.
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| − | *Environmental Integrity Project, [http://www.dirtykilowatts.org/Dirty_Kilowatts2007.pdf "Dirty Kilowatts: America’s Most Polluting Power Plants"], July 2007.
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| − | *[http://www.epa.gov/enviro/html/fii/fii_query_java.html Facility Registry System], U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, accessed Jan. 2009.
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| − | *[http://carma.org/dig Carbon Monitoring for Action database], accessed Feb. 2009.
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| − | ===Related SourceWatch Articles===
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| − | *[[Existing U.S. Coal Plants]]
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| − | *[[Georgia and coal]]
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| − | *[[Southern Company]]
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| − | *[[United States and coal]]
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| − | *[[Global warming]]
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| − | ===External Articles===
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| − | [[Category:United States]]
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| − | [[Category:Corporations]]
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| − | [[Category:Environment]]
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| − | [[Category:Energy]]
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| − | [[Category:Climate change]]
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| − | [[Category:Existing coal plants in the United States]]
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| − | [[Category:Existing coal plants in Georgia]]
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| − | [[Category:Georgia]]
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| − | [[Category:Coal plant retirements in the United States]]
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