Pirkey Power Plant
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Pirkey Power Plant is a retired power station in Hallsville, Harrison, Texas, United States. It is also known as H.W. Pirkey Power Plant.
Location
Table 1: Project-level location details
| Plant name | Location | Coordinates (WGS 84) |
|---|---|---|
| Pirkey Power Plant | Hallsville, Harrison, Texas, United States | 32.461039, -94.484811 (exact) |
The map below shows the exact location of the power station.
Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):
- Unit 1: 32.461039, -94.484811
Project Details
Table 2: Unit-level details
| Unit name | Status | Fuel(s) | Capacity (MW) | Technology | Start year | Retired year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | retired | coal: lignite | 720.8 | subcritical | 1985 | 2023 |
Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details
| Unit name | Owner | Parent |
|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | Southwestern Electric Power Co [85%]; other [2%]; Northeast Texas Electric Cooperative Inc [11%] | American Electric Power Co Inc [85.9%]; other [2.3%]; Bowie-Cass Electric Cooperative; Deep East Texas Electric Cooperative Inc; Panola-Harrison Electric Cooperative; Upshur Rural Electric Cooperative; Wood County Electric Cooperative |
Background
As of July 2020, the power station was owned by Southwestern Electric Power (85.9%), North Texas Electric Coop (11.72%) and Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority (2.38%).[1][2][3]
Unit Retirement
In November 2020, SWEPCO said it will retire the Pirkey Plant in 2023.[4]
In March 2023, the power station was retired.[5]
Legal challenge over pollution control at 8 Texas coal plants
In October 2022, the Environment Integrity Project and the Sierra Club filed legal action against the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over the effective exemption of 8 coal plants from fine particle pollution control standards.[6] According to the lawsuit, the EPA failed to approve an amendment to Texas' State Implementation Plan (SIP) for the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. By neither approving nor rejecting the new SIP by the statutory deadline, the coal power stations are free to continue emitting dangerous levels of pollution for “for hundreds and in some cases thousands of hours each year.”[7]
The legal action is targeted at 8 coal plants: Pirkey Power Plant, Fayette Power Project, Martin Lake Steam Station, Limestone Generating Station, San Miguel Electric Cooperative, Harrington Station, Gibbons Creek Steam Station, and Oklaunion Power Station.[8]
Coal Mine
The Pirkey Power Plant is the only customer of lignite from the South Hallsville No 1 Mine (Sabine Mining) located close to 5 miles to the east of the facility. Ending the use of lignite at the powerplant will most likely have consequenses for the employees working at the mine.[9]
Emissions Data
- 2006 CO2 Emissions: 5,275,794 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions: 2,641 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
- 2006 NOx Emissions: 4,191 tons
- 2005 Mercury Emissions: 1,142 lb.
Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Pirkey Power 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.[10] 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.[11]
Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Pirkey Power Plant
| Type of Impact | Annual Incidence | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths | 20 | $140,000,000 |
| Heart attacks | 30 | $3,200,000 |
| Asthma attacks | 340 | $18,000 |
| Hospital admissions | 15 | $330,000 |
| Chronic bronchitis | 12 | $5,400,000 |
| Asthma ER visits | 21 | $8,000 |
Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed February 2011
Coal waste Sites
- Pirkey Power Plant Auxilliary Surge Pond
- Pirkey Power Plant East Bottom Ash Pond
- Pirkey Power Plant Scrubber Sludge Landfill Runoff Pond
- Pirkey Power Plant Secondary Bottom Ash Pond
- Pirkey Power Plant Surge Pond
- Pirkey Power Plant West Bottom Ash Pond
Pirkey ranked 73rd 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.[12] The data came from the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) for 2006, the most recent year available.[13]
Pirkey Power Plant ranked number 73 on the list, with 380,111 pounds of coal combustion waste released to surface impoundments in 2006.[12]
Articles and Resources
References
- ↑ "AEP 2019 annual report, page 254" aep.com, accessed July 2020
- ↑ "Our Resources" northeasttexaselectric.com, accessed July 2020
- ↑ "Power Supply" ompa.com, accessed July 2020
- ↑ Cavazos, Michael (2020-11-05). "SWEPCO to retire Pirkey Power Plant in Hallsville in 2023". Longview News-Journal. Retrieved 2020-11-06.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "Pirkey Plant: Honoring the Past", American Electric Power, April 19, 2023
- ↑ "Coal-fired plants in Texas bypassing pollution controls, lawsuit says", Reuters, October 11, 2022
- ↑ "Environmental Integrity Project v. Michael Regan: Civil Action No. 1:22-cv-3063", United States District Court for the District of Columbia, filed October 10, 2022
- ↑ "Environmental Groups Sue EPA Over Pollution From Eight Texas Coal Plants", Environmental Integrity Project, October 10, 2022
- ↑ "EIA 923 March 2020" EIA 923 2020.
- ↑ "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
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 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.
Additional data
To access additional data, including an interactive map of coal-fired power stations, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.
