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Comments and Concerns re: Longleaf Power Project Big Bend Climate Action Team (BBCAT) November, 2006 |
Our mission is to help local governments, businesses, and citizens in Florida’s Big Bend to do their share to abate climate change by reducing fossil fuel use and promoting energy efficiency, conservation and renewable fuels in power plants, buildings and vehicles. We are concerned that climate disruption, caused primarily by human use of fossil fuels (especially coal), is already occurring and is rapidly becoming more severe. We are also concerned that our air and water are already seriously polluted. We know that many forms of alternative energy are available and cost-effective, and that, therefore, the growing energy needs of populations in our region can be met without resorting to the use of coal. For these reasons, we have opposed the construction and operation of a proposed 800-megawatt pulverized coal-burning power plant in Taylor County, Florida, since it was first proposed in June of 2005. Now, LS Power is proposing to build a 1,200-megawatt pulverized coal-burning power plant, to be called the Longleaf plant, in Early County, Georgia. We are opposed to this coal-burning power plant for the same reasons. Pulverized coal plants represent an outdated, polluting technology. They cannot be adapted to permit carbon capture and storage, which is needed to prevent the emission of the major global-warming gas, carbon dioxide, which is released when fossil fuels are burned. Pulverized coal plants will not be economically viable when our federal government enacts responsible carbon-dioxide emissions limits as many other nations have already done. (After this month’s mid-term elections, it seems likely that responsible federal action will come sooner than seemed possible a short time ago.) Moreover, most proposed coal-fired plants are not needed. Before a community proposes to use coal to generate its electricity, it should research and implement the full potential for two alternatives to fossil fuel use: 1) demand reduction through use of conservation and energy efficiency, and 2) generation of energy from renewable (carbon-neutral) fuels. No community in Florida and almost no community in Georgia that is proposing a coal plant has evaluated and implemented the full potential for these clean-energy alternatives, yet research has shown that they are more cost effective than either coal or natural gas. The Georgia Public Service Commission, prior to making a decision on Early County’s Longleaf coal-plant proposal, should require that these potentials be evaluated. When the City of Tallahassee’s Electric Department planners first recommended joining a partnership to build the proposed Taylor County coal plant, they were unaware that significant energy resources other than coal could be made available to meet the City’s projected need for some 250 to 300 megawatts of power over the next 20 years. Working with the City staff, the Big Bend Climate Action Team (BBCAT) recommended that the City hire expert clean energy consultants to evaluate and recommend alternatives to the coal plant. As a result of the research and advice of these experts, the City of Tallahassee has now committed to reducing demand by 162 megawatts through energy efficiency over the next 20 years and has signed a contract for 38 megawatts of electricity from clean biomass, which will become available in 2010. With most or all of the City’s energy need met by these clean-energy resources, it seems clear that the only supplementary fossil-fuel generation needed, if any, can be produced by several relatively small natural-gas plants. Natural gas emits considerably less carbon dioxide than coal, per unit of energy produced. In our view, all utilities in Georgia should explore options such as these before building more coal plants. Furthermore, any decision to build a coal plant in Georgia should be deferred to make sure it is consistent with the soon-to-be-completed comprehensive State Energy Strategy developed at the request of Governor Pardue and likely to result in legislative changes affecting energy production. BBCAT is also concerned about the impact of pollutants on our region’s air and water. When burned, coal, even with mandated controls fully in force, emits more mercury than any other fossil fuel. Virtually all lakes, rivers, and coastal waters in our region are polluted with mercury to such an extent that health advisories have become necessary restricting consumption of fish from these waters. Pollution of the air by particulate matter is also a problem in the Tallahassee area. According to Larry George at Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection, Florida's air quality meters show Tallahassee’s particulates, together with those of Pensacola and Tampa, to be among the highest in the state. George attributes the high particulate levels, in part, to pollution drifting over north Florida from coal-burners in Tennessee. Tallahassee is also downwind of Early County, Georgia, and the Longleaf plant’s air pollution might well travel to Tallahassee and add to the problem. For these reasons, we ask that all permits for this pulverized coal-fired plant be denied. There are viable clean energy options and there are better and cleaner fossil fuel approaches. |