Power Plant Carbon Emissions revealed
Brayton Point is one of the state's worst polluters
Brayton Point and Mystic River plants are the state's worst.
REPORT HIGHLIGHTS SCOPE OF POWER PLANT CARBON EMISSIONS
The biggest Massachusetts carbon-polluting power plant is the Mystic Generating Station followed by Brayton Point
The largest carbon polluter in the country, Scherer Power Plant in Georgia, emits more tons of carbon dioxide than all of the Bay State’s electric power sector emissions, according to a report that faults the top polluters for an outsize environmental impact.
The top 10 most polluting power plants produced 179 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2011, more than all the passenger vehicles in New York and California, according to an Environment Massachusetts report released Tuesday.
A small number of dirty power plants make a massive and disproportionate contribution to the nation’s global warming emissions
“As this report will show, a small number of dirty power plants make a massive and disproportionate contribution to the nation’s global warming emissions,” read the report by Jordan Schneider and Travis Madsen, of Frontier Group, and Julian Boggs of Environment America Research & Policy Center. “Cleaning up our existing power plants – and preventing construction of a new generation of dirty power plants – would make a significant difference in fighting global warming.”
Gov. Deval Patrick returned Monday from a trip to Quebec where he hoped to advance discussions of bringing Canadian hydroelectric power to Massachusetts ratepayers.
The New England governors, led by Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, and the Eastern Canadian Premiers, led by Quebec Premier Pauline Marois, agreed on several resolutions calling for continued cooperation regarding energy, expressing concern and condolences in the wake of a July 5 and 6 railway accident in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec that killed 47 people, and congratulating themselves for surpassing a greenhouse gas reduction target in 2010 and making it a quarter of the way toward a 2020 goal.
Carbon emissions are warming the world’s oceans
The report released Tuesday said carbon emissions are warming the world’s oceans, while two thirds of all airborne mercury pollution in 2010 was caused by coal-fired power plants, and decommissioning the dirtiest power plants could set the country on a better track toward handling those problems.
“As of 2011, annual U.S. greenhouse gas emissions were still 10 percent above 1990 levels. The annual emissions from a small group of the nation’s dirtiest power plants are greatly hindering our ability to meet the emissions reduction targets necessary to avoid the worst impacts of global warming,” the report said. “Replacing these power plants with zero-emission energy sources such as wind and solar power, or eliminating the need for the power they produce through energy efficiency and conservation, would reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to 11 percent below 1990 levels, even in the absence of other efforts to reduce emissions.”
The Bay State's worst offenders
In Massachusetts, the biggest carbon-polluting power plant is the Mystic Generating Station, a natural gas plant across the Mystic River from Charlestown, followed by Brayton Point, a coal plant on the shores of Mount Hope Bay across the water from Fall River.
With carbon emissions of 3.64 million and 3.26 million metric tons, the two plants are less polluting than the top polluters in many other states, such as Scherer, which emits 21.3 metric tons of carbon, the equivalent of 4.4 million passenger vehicles.
The Mystic plant emits more carbon than the most-polluting power plants in more than a dozen states including all of New England, New York, California and New Jersey.
In the rural state of Vermont, the top carbon emitter is the Middlebury College Biomass, which emits 10,000 metric tons of carbon.
In a country with nearly, 6,000 electricity-producing facilities, the top polluting plants emit far more greenhouses gases than other plants.
The country’s top 100 most polluting power plants spewed out more than 1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2011, accounting for nearly 20 percent of total United States emissions and accounting for 3.2 percent of global emissions caused by energy use, according to the study.
The top 50 greatest U.S. polluters rank just above the total carbon emissions produced by South Korea and Canada.
“Nearly a year has passed since Hurricane Sandy, and as residents of the Bay State, we can’t afford to turn a blind eye to global warming,” said Ben Hellerstein, field associate for Environment Massachusetts in a statement. “State and local governments in Massachusetts have taken bold steps to cut carbon emissions, but nationwide, power plants remain the largest contributors to global warming. Tackling the problem of global warming means cleaning up the dirtiest power plants in America.”
The vast majority of the top 100 most polluting plants are coal, according to the report.
West County Energy Center in Florida is the most polluting natural gas plant, emitting 7.9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.
Power plants made up 25 percent of the Bay State’s emissions.
After Mystic and Brayton Point, the biggest polluters are Fore River Generating Station in North Weymouth with 1.86 million metric tons; Millenium Power in Charlton with 920,000 metric tons; and ANP Blackstone Energy Project in Blackstone with 820,000 metric tons.
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