Task force report pegs pollution on TVA coal power

Task force report pegs pollution on TVA coal power
By ANNE PAINE
Staff Writer

When Nashvillians and other state residents turn on a television, use a blow dryer or vacuum, chances are they're polluting.

More than 60% of the electricity in the Tennessee Valley comes from coal-fired plants, which are notorious for releasing toxic and other air contaminants, the Tennessee Clean Air Task Force said yesterday.

And the Tennessee Valley Authority, which provides almost all the electricity sold in the state, is using a loophole in the nation's clean air laws to keep in service coal plants that pollute more but cost less to operate, the group charged.

A TVA official objected to the characterization and said the federal agency follows the law.

The task force wants the TVA to clean up its plants and the public to understand its own role in the problem.

"People need to make the association between their light switch and air pollution," said Stephen Smith, head of Tennessee Valley Energy Reform Coalition, which is a member of the task force.

The task force in its report issued yesterday, "Clearing the Air: Getting the Dirt on TVA's Coal-Fired Plants," estimates that for every $50 a resident spends on an electric bill in the TVA system, about 500 pounds of coal are burned, resulting in 105 pounds of sulfur dioxide, 60 pounds of nitrogen oxides and 12,915 pounds of carbon dioxide.

Individually, the pollutants contribute to a variety of environmental ills, including acid rain and health-damaging ozone.

Most utilities, including Nashville Electric Service, sell power TVA creates. While TVA dams and hydroelectric plants provide a little more than 10% and nuclear power about 23%; the bulk of electricity comes from burning coal.

TVA's 11 coal plants last year released 880,000 tons of sulfur dioxide, 505,000 tons of nitrogen oxides and 108 million tons of carbon dioxide, according to task force data.

The coal plants, including the Gallatin, Cumberland and Johnsonville sites, also release mercury and other toxic materials.

A TVA spokeswoman objected to the characterization of TVA's use of its older power plants as slipping by clean air laws through a loophole.

"It is not a loophole," said spokeswoman Barbara Martocci. "It is something that EPA and its regulators have determined are the requirements to meet the standards of clean air."

"Do you take all the cars from 1976 off the roads because they don't meet the 1998 requirements?"

TVA's balancing act is to be protective of the environment, while also providing reasonably priced power for consumers, she said.

Smith said keeping older plants limping along costs in terms of health care and coal, since the plants are less efficient.

"TVA's coal-fired plants are, on average, 40 years old and are allowed to pollute at levels much greater than new plants," he said.

Martocci said TVA meets all laws and has made large reductions in emissions. The agency has announced a plan to spend $500 million to cut nitrogen oxides by 75% by 2003.

Nitrogen oxide combines with other air contaminants and reacts in the presence of sunlight to form ozone, which can harm plants and cause respiratory problems, such as triggering asthma attacks.

TVA only plans to reduce nitrogen oxides during the "ozone season," basically April through October.

The task force includes the Tennessee Environmental Council, American Lung Association of Tennessee, League of Women Voters of Tennessee and the National Parks and Conservation Association.

It would like legislation passed in Congress to remove exemptions that subsidize older plants. TVA should promote solar and renewable energy and consider converting its older, more inefficient coal plants to cleaner-burning natural gas, the group said.

This summer parts of the state, including the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, recorded some of the highest levels ever of ozone.

While automobiles add to the problem, utilities are the greatest contributors to ozone formation in the Southeast, according to the National Park Service.