Red Hills Generation Facility
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Red Hills Generation Facility is an operating power station of at least 513-megawatts (MW) in Red Hills, Choctaw, Mississippi, United States.
Location
Table 1: Project-level location details
| Plant name | Location | Coordinates (WGS 84) |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hills Generation Facility | Red Hills, Choctaw, Mississippi, United States | 33.376153, -89.218469 (exact) |
The map below shows the exact location of the power station.
Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):
- Unit 1: 33.376153, -89.218469
Project Details
Table 2: Unit-level details
| Unit name | Status | Fuel(s) | Capacity (MW) | Technology | Start year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | operating | coal: lignite | 513.7 | subcritical | 2001 |
Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details
| Unit name | Owner | Parent |
|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | S E Choctaw LLC [100%] | Southern Co [100.0%] |
Emissions Data
- 2006 CO2 Emissions: 3,921,216 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions: 2,149 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
- 2006 NOx Emissions: 2,114 tons
- 2005 Mercury Emissions: 60 lb.
Plant Sale
In 2012 the Red Hills Generating station was sold by GDF to Purenergy.[1] Purenergy subsidiary SE Choctaw LLC leases the generation station to Choctaw Generating LP who operates the plant.
Proposed Red Hills Power Project
Synthesis Energy Systems Inc. and North American Coal Corporation announced in 2008 that they had entered a joint development agreement to evaluate a gas-to-liquids project near Red Hills Mine in Mississippi. If built, the facility could produce synthetic gasoline, chemical feedstocks or synthetic natural gas. The companies planned to conduct a “pre-feasibility study” to determine if “they will engage in a front-end engineering design study to further develop the opportunity.”[2]
In 2010, the Sierra Club reported that the pre-feasibility study had not been released and that the Mississippi DEQ had not received an air permit application. Sierra concluded that the project was defunct.[3]
Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Red Hills Generation Facility
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.[4] 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.[5]
Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Red Hills Generating Facility
| Type of Impact | Annual Incidence | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths | 11 | $79,000,000 |
| Heart attacks | 15 | $1,700,000 |
| Asthma attacks | 180 | $9,000 |
| Hospital admissions | 7 | $180,000 |
| Chronic bronchitis | 6 | $2,900,000 |
| Asthma ER visits | 11 | $4,000 |
Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed February 2011
Citizen groups
Articles and Resources
References
- ↑ "Choctaw looks for indirect transfer of control of lignite-fired plant" transmissionhub.com, December 31, 2012
- ↑ Dianna Heitz, "Synthesis Energy enters development agreement with North American Coal," SmallCapInvestor.com, July 16, 2008
- ↑ "Stopping the Coal Rush", Sierra Club, accessed January 2011. (This is a Sierra Club list of new coal plant proposals.)
- ↑ "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
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.
