McDonough Steam Generating Plant
| Part of the Global Oil and Gas Plant Tracker, a Global Energy Monitor project. |
| Related categories: |
| Part of the Global Coal Plant Tracker, a Global Energy Monitor project. |
| Related coal trackers: |
McDonough Steam Generating Plant is an operating power station of at least 2766-megawatts (MW) in Smyrna, Cobb, Georgia, United States with multiple units, some of which are not currently operating. It is also known as Jack McDonough Steam Generating Plant, Atkinson power station.
Location
Table 1: Project-level location details
| Plant name | Location | Coordinates (WGS 84) |
|---|---|---|
| McDonough Steam Generating Plant | Smyrna, Cobb, Georgia, United States | 33.824725, -84.474753 (exact) |
The map below shows the exact location of the power station.
Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):
- G104, G105, G106, Unit 1, Unit 2: 33.824725, -84.474753
Project Details
Table 2: Unit-level details
| Unit name | Status | Fuel(s) | Capacity (MW) | Technology | CHP | Start year | Retired year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G104 | Operating[1] | fossil gas: natural gas, fossil liquids: fuel oil[2] | 922[3] | combined cycle[1] | no[1] | 2011[1] | – |
| G105 | Operating[1] | fossil gas: natural gas, fossil liquids: fuel oil[2] | 922[3] | combined cycle[1] | no[1] | 2012[1] | – |
| G106 | Operating[1] | fossil gas: natural gas, fossil liquids: fuel oil[2] | 922[3] | combined cycle[1] | no[1] | 2012[1] | – |
| Unit 1 | Retired | coal: bituminous | 299.2 | subcritical | – | 1963 | 2012 |
| Unit 2 | Retired | coal: bituminous | 299.2 | subcritical | – | 1964 | 2011 |
CHP is an abbreviation for Combined Heat and Power. It is a technology that produces electricity and thermal energy at high efficiencies. Coal units track this information in the Captive Use section when known.
Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details
| Unit name | Owner | Parent |
|---|---|---|
| G104 | Georgia Power Co [100%] | Southern Co [100.0%] |
| G105 | Georgia Power Co [100%] | Southern Co [100.0%] |
| G106 | Georgia Power Co [100%] | Southern Co [100.0%] |
| Unit 1 | Georgia Power Co [100%] | Southern Co [100.0%] |
| Unit 2 | Georgia Power Co [100%] | Southern Co [100.0%] |
Background
In August, 2009, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported that Georgia Power was moving ahead with plans to replace the coal-fired McDonough Steam Generating Plant with a natural gas-fired plant and switch its Mitchell Steam Generating Plant near Albany, Ga., from coal to wood chips.[4]
During its operation, the coal-fired power plant reportedly sourced its coal from the following places:[5]
- Leeco 64 (Kentucky)
- Bledsoe #1 (Kentucky)
- Alliance Resource Cave Branch (Kentucky)
- Cloverlick Mine (Kentucky.)
The coal-fired units at the power station were retired in 2011-2012.[6]
The power station's gas-fired units were reportedly started up from 2011-2012.[7][8]
Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from McDonough Plant
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.[9] Fine particle pollution consists of a complex mixture of soot, heavy metals, sulfur dioxide, and 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, i.e. uncompensated harms inflicted upon the public at large. 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.[10]
Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from McDonough Plant
| Type of Impact | Annual Incidence | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths | 51 | $380,000,000 |
| Heart attacks | 72 | $7,900,000 |
| Asthma attacks | 880 | $46,000 |
| Hospital admissions | 37 | $860,000 |
| Chronic bronchitis | 32 | $14,000,000 |
| Asthma ER visits | 53 | $20,000 |
Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed February 2011
McDonough ranked 84th on list of most polluting power plants in terms of coal waste
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 combustion waste (CCW) stored in surface impoundments like the one involved in the TVA Kingston Fossil Plant coal ash spill.[11] The data came from the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) for 2006, the most recent year available.[12]
McDonough Steam Generating Plant ranked number 84 on the list, with 318,051 pounds of coal combustion waste released to surface impoundments in 2006.[11]
Legislative issues
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 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 coal plant in Washington County.[13][14]
Emissions Data (2005-2006)
- 2006 CO2 Emissions: 3,705,401 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions: 28,835 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
- 2006 NOx Emissions: 4,286 tons
- 2005 Mercury Emissions: 116 lb.
Citizen groups
- CleanPower4Georgians
- Fall-line Alliance for Clean Environment
- Focus the Nation
- Friends of the Chattahoochee
- GreenLaw
- Sierra Club Georgia Chapter
- Co-op Conversations Georgia
- Cobb Alliance for Smart Energy
Articles and Resources
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 https://web.archive.org/web/20200612191408/https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/eia860m/archive/xls/november_generator2019.xlsx. Archived from the original on 12 June 2020.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 https://web.archive.org/web/20211122185052/https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/eia860m/archive/xls/july_generator2021.xlsx. Archived from the original on 22 November 2021.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 EIA21 https://www.georgiapower.com/company/energy-industry/generating-plants/mcdonough-atkinson.html; EIA21.
{{cite web}}: Check|url=value (help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ Dave Flessner, "TVA May Shutter Aging Coal Plants," Chattanooga Times Free Press, August 24, 2009
- ↑ Energy Information Administration Form 923 for 2009
- ↑ Form EIA-860 Data - Schedule 3, Generator Data, US EIA, 2014
- ↑ Plant McDonough-Atkinson, Georgia Power, accessed Sep 10, 2021
- ↑ Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), November 2019
- ↑ "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
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Sue Sturgis, "Coal's ticking timebomb: Could disaster strike a coal ash dump near you?," Institute for Southern Studies, January 4, 2009.
- ↑ TRI Explorer, EPA, accessed January 2009.
- ↑ "Georgia bill proposes moratorium on new coal plants," Reuters, February 4, 2009.
- ↑ Margaret Newkirk, "Bill would restrict coal power plants," Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 4, 2009.
Additional data
To access additional data, including interactive maps of the power stations, downloadable datasets, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker and the Global Oil and Gas Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.
