Henderson Station I (KY)
Henderson Station I was a coal-fired power station owned and operated by the Henderson City Utility Commission in Henderson, Kentucky.
Citing rising costs to comply with environmental regulations, Henderson Municipal Power and Light said it planned to close its 52-year-old power plant on Water Street by Dec. 31, 2008.[1] HMP&L said it told the 13 full-time employees at the plant that it would assist them in identifying new job openings at HMP&L, the city of Henderson or the Henderson Station Two power plant. According to HMP&L General Manager Gary Quick, "There are constantly openings at Station Two and other plants out there."[1]
Plant Data
- Owner: Henderson City Utility Commission
- Parent Company: City of Henderson, KY
- Plant Nameplate Capacity: 43.8 MW (Megawatts)
- Units and In-Service Dates: 11.5 MW (1956), 32.3 MW (1968)
- Location: 100 5th St., Henderson, KY 42420
- GPS Coordinates: 37.845, -87.591311
- Electricity Production: 74,633 MWh (2005)
- Coal Consumption:
- Coal Source:
- Number of Employees:
Emissions Data
- CO2 Emissions:
- SO2 Emissions: 2,261 tons (2005)
- SO2 Emissions per MWh: 60.59 lb/MWh
- NOx Emissions: 424 tons (2005)
- Mercury Emissions:
Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from the Henderson Station I
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 fine particle pollution from coal-fired power plants.[2] The study found that over 13,000 deaths and tens of thousands of cases of chronic bronchitis, acute bronchitis, asthma-related episodes and asthma-related emergency room visits, congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, dysrhythmia, ischemic heart disease, chronic lung disease, peneumonia each year are attributable to fine particle pollution from U.S. coal-fired power plants. Fine particle pollution is formed from a combination of soot, acid droplets, and heavy metals formed from sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and soot. Among those particles, the most dangerous are the smallest (smaller than 2.5 microns), 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. 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.
The table below estimates the death and illness attributable to the Henderson Station I. 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.[3]
Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from the Henderson Station I
| Type of Impact | Annual Incidence | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths | 8 | $56,000 |
| Heart attacks | 12 | $1,300,000 |
| Asthma attacks | 130 | $7,000 |
| Hospital admissions | 6 | $130,000 |
| Chronic bronchitis | 5 | $2,000,000 |
| Asthma ER visits | 8 | $3,000 |
Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed February 2011
Articles and Resources
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chuck Stinnet, "Henderson power plant to close" Courier Press, August 27, 2008
- ↑ "The Toll from Coal: An Updated Assessment of Death and Disease from America's Dirtiest Energy Source," Clean Air Task Force, September 2010.
- ↑ "Technical Support Document for the Powerplant Impact Estimator Software Tool," Prepared for the Clean Air Task Force by Abt Associates, July 2010
Sources
- Existing Electric Generating Units in the United States, 2005, Energy Information Administration, accessed Jan. 2009.
- Environmental Integrity Project, "Dirty Kilowatts: America’s Most Polluting Power Plants", July 2007.
- Facility Registry System, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, accessed Jan. 2009.
- Carbon Monitoring for Action database, accessed Feb. 2009.
- NETL Coal Power Plant Database, National Energy Technology Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy, 2007.
- AirData Query Database, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, accessed April 2009.
