Global Warming Solutions News

Alternate Contact:
Cara Dolan
206 568-2850 x2008
cdolan@environmentwashington.org

Seattle, WA—The Centralia power plant in Lewis County is the dirtiest power plant in Washington based on carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution for 2007, according to a new analysis of government data released today by Environment Washington.

“It's time for the oldest and dirtiest power plants to clean up their act,” said Environment Washington Environmental Advocate Heather Shute. “Fossil fuel-fired giants have dominated our electricity for decades and have been allowed to pollute without license. In order to stop global warming and reap all the benefits of clean energy, we must require old clunker power plants to meet modern standards for global warming pollution.”

Power plants currently do not have to meet any global warming pollution standard, meaning that they are an unchecked contributor to global warming. In fact, power plants are the nation’s single largest source of global warming pollution.

The growing impacts of global warming will impose threats to our safety and immense financial cost on our society, and most notably for Washington. For example, sea level rise inundating our coast and future water shortages as our snowpack-fed rivers and streams dry up. To avoid the worst effects of global warming, the science shows that the United States must cut its global warming pollution by 35 percent by 2020.

The new report from Environment Washington, “America's Biggest Polluters: Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Power Plants in 2007,” looks at carbon dioxide emissions from power plants across the country using 2007 data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; 2007 is the most recent year for which final data is available. The report examines both age of and pollution from power plants to document the fact that we are reliant on an energy infrastructure that is both old and polluting. The key findings include the following:

• The oldest operating power plant in Washington is the Centralia power plant in Centralia, WA, built in 1972.

• The Centralia power plant was also the dirtiest power plant in Washington in 2007 based on its carbon dioxide emissions. The Centralia plant produces the same amount of global warming pollution in a year as more than 1.8 million of today’s cars.

Nationally, the report shows that America's power is dominated by old and polluting plants, and that the oldest and dirtiest plants often go hand-in-hand. Power plants built three decades ago or more produced 73 percent of the total global warming pollution from power plants in 2007. Older power plants on average are dirtier per unit of energy than newer ones.

“America's power is both decades-old and dangerously polluting. We’re reliant on technology that’s as old as the very first commercially available televisions. Televisions have gone from black-and-white clunkers to super high-definition flat screens, but they’re still powered by the same dirty electricity,” Shute said.

“Clean energy holds the future of America—to make our nation energy independent, create millions of new jobs, and stop the worst effects of global warming. In order to realize this clean energy future, power plants must stop polluting with impunity,” Cara Dolan, environmental associate, said.

The U.S. Senate is slated to consider legislation in the next few months to establish the first-ever federal limits on global warming pollution and standards and incentives for clean energy. In addition, EPA has proposed a rule to require power plants and other large smokestack industries to use available technology to cut their global warming pollution when new facilities are constructed or existing facilities are significantly modified.

However, fossil fuel industries are fighting the transition to clean energy. The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a coal industry lobby group, spent at least $40 million dollars in 2008 alone – more than $100,000 a day – on lobbyists and advertising on energy. Earlier this year, they hired lobbyists who forged phony constituent letters to Congress opposing action on clean energy.

“We urge Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray to ensure that the Senate passes an energy bill that requires old, clunker power plants to meet modern standards for global warming pollution so we can finally move to clean energy, like wind and solar power. We also urge EPA to finalize its proposed rule to cut global warming pollution from dirty power plants," said Dolan.

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Read the full report here.

Environment Washington is a state-based, citizen-funded environmental organization working for clean air, clean water, and open space.