Plants put N.C. on 'dirtiest dozen' list

3 power stations in state noted for carbon dioxide

RALEIGH -- A new report ranks North Carolina among the dirtiest dozen states in the nation for air pollution from coal-fired power plants.

The Environmental Integrity Project, a Washington nonprofit that pushes for more effective enforcement of environmental laws, listed Progress Energy's massive Roxboro power generation plant among the country's 50 worst emitters of carbon dioxide, a major cause of global warming.

Two plants operated by Duke Energy, one north of Winston-Salem and the other near Charlotte, also made the list, based on emissions data the utility companies reported to federal agencies.

Pollution from Duke's plants and from coal-fired stations in Tennessee and the Midwest are carried to Eastern North Carolina by prevailing winds.

The nation's 378 large-scale coal-fired power plants provide about half of the country's electricity and about 40 percent of its artificially produced carbon dioxide. Because coal mines in the Appalachian Mountains are nearby, coal is among the cheapest ways for Southern power companies to produce electricity. It is also among the most damaging to the environment.

Founded by former officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Integrity Project timed its report to highlight the need for first-ever carbon dioxide regulations being debated in Congress.

Ilan Levine, the lead author of the study, said Thursday that utility executives across the nation, including James E. Rogers, Duke Energy's chief executive, are racing to build a new generation of coal-fired projects ahead of clean-air regulations that might make such plants too expensive.

Duke recently won approval from the N.C. Utilities Commission to build an 800-megawatt coal-fired power plant west of Charlotte. Duke officials contend the company must have the plant to met the increasing demand for electricity in the fast-growing Charlotte region.

Rogers, who testified before Congress last month advocating a cap on greenhouse gas emissions and the free-market trading of pollution credits, said he expects his company's new plants will be exempt from any new regulations.

"[Rogers] has been going around the country talking a lot about global warming," Mary Ann Hitt, the executive director of Appalachian Voices, an environmental watchdog group based in Boone. "But his company's actions have not been matching his words."

Nuclear plant growth sought

Progress Energy, headquartered in Raleigh, has no current plans to build new coal-fired plants but has applied to federal regulators for a major expansion of its Shearon Harris nuclear plant near New Hill. The construction of new nuclear plants in the United States stalled after the accident at Three Mile Island in 1979, but the technology has gained new momentum in recent years. The regulatory environment has been more favorable in the Bush administration, and reactors don't emit greenhouse gases.

Progress Energy's Roxboro plant, one of the largest coal-fired facilities in the country, also made lists issued Thursday ranking the nation's 50 worst emitters of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury.

Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide are major contributors to smog and acid rain, as well as fine particle pollution harmful to those with asthma and heart problems. Mercury, a highly toxic metal that settles into lakes, rivers and oceans, is linked to neurological damage in young children and human fetuses.

Plants operated by Progress Energy in Florida also made the list of worst polluters.

Dana Yeganian, a spokeswoman for Progress Energy, said Thursday the company is spending about $900 million to upgrade its coal-fired plants in North Carolina to greatly reduce, though not eliminate, emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury.

Those changes are required by the state's Clean Smokestacks law enacted in 2002. However, there is currently no law that requires power companies to cut emissions of carbon dioxide.

"One of the big issues in addressing global climate change, obviously, is reducing CO2," Yeganian said. "Right now, there isn't a technology that is commercially available that takes CO2 out of coal-fired power plants emissions."

Environmental organizations say Progress Energy and Duke Energy should do more to reduce airborne pollution by cutting demand for electricity through increased efficiency and putting more effort into harvesting energy from the wind and sun.

Both companies have announced plans for revamped and expanded efficiency programs. Duke has said it plans to buy more electricity produced from renewable sources. But neither of North Carolina's largest power providers plans to end its reliance on burning coal.