States Grapple With Realization They Are Among The Dirtiest When It Comes To Mercury

As we reported yesterday the new EIP report had bad news for the nation and bad news for some individual states.

Arkansas - from the Arkansas Democrat Gazette

Based on emissions at two of its three coal-fired power plants, Arkansas is among the nation’s “dirty dozen” states when it comes to mercury pollution, says a group founded by a former Environmental Protection Agency official.
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According to a project report issued Thursday, Independence ranked 30 th nationwide in total pounds of mercury emissions in 2007, belching 596 pounds of the toxic metal into the air. That’s a 16. 3 percent increase over its emissions in 2006. The White Bluff facility ranked 43 rd nationally with 518 pounds of emissions — down 6. 6 percent since 2006, the report states.

SWEPCO’s Flint Creek plant near Gentry was not listed among the top 50.

Independence and White Bluff are both Entergy plants and James Thompson defended Entergy's environmental efforts. Some excerpts from the Arkansas News Bureau follow;

Entergy Arkansas spokesman James Thompson acknowledged the listing but said both plants were operating within federal and state emission limits, at levels that do not pose significant health hazards.

Thompson said Entergy was the first utility in the nation to voluntarily stabilize greenhouse gas emissions in 2000 and has committed to do so through 2010. Also, he said Entergy is among the top 10 cleanest electricity generators with its balance of sources, including 80 percent from its nuclear power plant near Russellville.

"We've done everything that's been asked of us plus more from a voluntary standpoint in cutting the emissions," Thompson said.

"We can't simply eliminate the use of fossil fuels to produce electricity - coal here in Arkansas accounts for about 20 percent of our generation," he said. "But we maintain a balance between reliability, cost and environmental concerns. We're doing what we can do and what we are being told to do by both federal and state regulators."

Alabama - from The Birmingham News

Alabama Power's coal-fired plant in west Jefferson County released more mercury into the air in 2007 than any other power plant in the country, according to a report released Thursday by the Washington-based Environmental Integrity Project.

And the company's Shelby County plant ranked No. 8 nationally in mercury emissions for 2007, according to EIP's study of emissions information in the Environmental Protection Agency's Toxic Release Inventory report.

Alabama Power spokesman Michael Sznajderman said scrubbers being installed at all of the company's coal-fired plants will significantly reduce those emissions in the coming years.