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Rush Island power station is a retired power station in Festus, Jefferson, Missouri, United States.
Location
Table 1: Project-level location details
| Plant name | Location | Coordinates (WGS 84) |
|---|---|---|
| Rush Island power station | Festus, Jefferson, Missouri, United States | 38.130869, -90.2628 (exact) |
The map below shows the exact location of the power station.
Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):
- Unit 1, Unit 2: 38.130869, -90.2628
Project Details
Table 2: Unit-level details
| Unit name | Status | Fuel(s) | Capacity (MW) | Technology | Start year | Retired year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | Retired | coal: subbituminous | 621 | subcritical | 1976 | 2024 |
| Unit 2 | Retired | coal: subbituminous | 621 | subcritical | 1977 | 2024 |
Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details
| Unit name | Owner | Parent |
|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | Union Electric Co [100%] | Ameren Corp [100.0%] |
| Unit 2 | Union Electric Co [100%] | Ameren Corp [100.0%] |
Background
In January 2017, a U.S. District Court ruled that Ameren had violated the Clean Air Act by making modifications to extend the life of the plant without first obtaining the necessary permits.[1] Over the following years, the company and environmental groups argued in courts about the remedy, with a Judge requiring the company to install scrubbers in a 2019 ruling. The company subsequently appealed that decision, but the appeal was rejected in August 2021.[2] Finally on December 14, 2021, the company announced that it would close the plant by 2024 instead of installing pollution control equipment.[3]
In October 2024, the Rush Island coal plant shut down. Following the 2017 ruling that Ameren had violated the Clean Air Act, the company reportedly had yet to face significant consequences. Utility customers were expected to continue to pay off the coal plant’s remaining debt for the next fifteen years.[4][5]
In November 2024, Ameren agreed to pay US$61 million for violating the Clean Air Act. In a joint proposal with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Sierra Club, Ameren agreed to underwrite the purchase of air filters for more than 125,000 Missouri households and the conversion of St. Louis school buses to electric.[6]
Regulatory violations
Air
On January 12, 2011, the EPA filed a lawsuit against Ameren, saying the company violated the New Source Review provisions of the Clean Air Act by completing major changes at the plant without getting the proper permit and without installing required new technologies to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide. Ameren Missouri denies the allegations, saying the work cited in the lawsuit was routine maintenance exempt from the EPA requirements.[7]
Coal waste
In an administrative order, the Environmental Protection Agency alleged the unauthorized dumping of 140,000 tons of Ameren Missouri's coal ash from 2004 to 2008, fouling wetlands and other nearby waters. All of the ash came from Ameren's Rush Island plant. A May 2013 settlement would require the company to abate impacts of the ash disposal by placing a protective cap over ash piles and installing controls to prevent further migration of pollutants.[8]
Emissions Data
- 2006 CO2 Emissions: 8,646,702 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions: 28,674 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
- 2006 NOx Emissions: 3,967 tons
- 2005 Mercury Emissions: 535 lb.
Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Rush Island power station
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 the Rush Island power station
| Type of Impact | Annual Incidence | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths | 57 | $420,000,000 |
| Heart attacks | 89 | $9,700,000 |
| Asthma attacks | 970 | $51,000 |
| Hospital admissions | 41 | $960,000 |
| Chronic bronchitis | 35 | $16,000,000 |
| Asthma ER visits | 62 | $23,000 |
Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed February 2011
Coal Waste Site
Rush Island ranked 32nd 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]
Rush Island power station ranked number 32 on the list, with 1,307,769 pounds of coal combustion waste released to surface impoundments in 2006.[11]
Articles and Resources
References
- ↑ Gray, Bryce. "Judge orders Ameren to outfit Jefferson County coal plant with a 'scrubber' to reduce air pollution". STLtoday.com. Retrieved 2021-12-14.
- ↑ Gray, Bryce. "Experts tell Ameren to dump the scrubbers, close the coal plant". STLtoday.com. Retrieved 2021-12-14.
- ↑ Barker, Jacob. "Ameren to shutter Rush Island coal plant 15 years earlier than planned". STLtoday.com. Retrieved 2021-12-14.
- ↑ “Midwest coal plant closes, but its ‘pollution debt’ lives on,” E&E News, October 21, 2024
- ↑ “Ameren Missouri’s Rush Island coal plant to close following years-long litigation,” Missouri Independent, October 11, 2024
- ↑ “Ameren Missouri reaches agreement with federal prosecutors to offset clean air violations,” Missouri Independent, November 6, 2024
- ↑ "EPA sues Ameren Missouri over improvements at coal-fired power plant in Festus" CB Online, January 13, 2011.
- ↑ Jeffery Tomich, "EPA proposes Jefferson County coal ash settlement," St. Louis Post Dispatch, May 29, 2013.
- ↑ "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.
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.
