More Coal Plants = More Pollution, More Illness
by Vicki Wolf, March 2007

The number of new coal plants slated for Texas is still up in the air as the energy companies and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) negotiate permitting. But speakers at a recent forum in Houston, Texas – “Coal Fired Power Plants: A threat to public health and the environment” – say there’s no question that pollution from coal plants currently takes a toll on public health. More plants add a tremendous amount of pollution to that toll.

Coal-burning plants are the largest polluters of all Texas industries, according to Neil Carman, Air Quality director at Lone Star Sierra Club. “Coal plants produce 48 to 49 percent of the state’s industrial air pollution in 2003, and they are only 1 percent of all industrial plants in Texas.” The new coal plants will add 33,500 tons of nitrogen oxide (NOx) per year, or the equivalent of 1,634,130 more cars on the road.

A major concern of large cities like Houston, Dallas, and even Austin and Waco is non-attainment of the federal eight-hour ozone levels set at 85 parts per billion (ppb). Recently an advisory panel of health experts to the EPA announced that this level does not do enough to protect public health and that the level should be lowered to 60 to 70 ppb. “Non-attainment means an overload of smog,” Carman says. “Those high-level ozone days will increase with longer ozone seasons with the warming climate,” he adds.

An overload of smog, or ozone, is dangerous to human health. Ozone attacks and destroys cells and tissue in the lungs. The result is inflammation that leads to difficulty breathing, and an increase in asthma and other respiratory illnesses.

High ozone days are often accompanied by elevated particle pollution. Fine and ultrafine particles from burning coal and other fossil fuels can get into the deeper areas of the lungs and pollute the blood stream with toxic substances. This type of pollution has been linked to cardiovascular disease and heart attacks. Studies show that more heart attacks and more premature deaths are likely to be reported during high ozone days.

Along with ozone, the smoke that billows out of the coal-burning plants’250 to 800 foot smokestacks carries a long list of toxic pollutants: acrolein, arsenic, carbon monoxide, chlorine, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxide, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), sulfur oxides and many others. Some of these toxins cause cancer. A recent 18-month study by The University of Texas School of Public Health found that children living within two miles of the Houston Ship Channel had a 50 percent increased risk of leukemia when compared with children living more than 10 miles from the channel (Houston Chronicle, January 18, 2007).

These pollutants also may cause immune system disorders. Some cause hormone disruption and developmental delays. Sudden infant death syndrome also has been linked to toxins from the smoke stacks of coal-burning power plants.

Heavy metals from the looming smoke stacks include lead, mercury, nickel, chromium, cadmium, arsenic, aluminum and others. Mercury and lead are known neurotoxins. Studies show exposure to these toxins can result in lower IQ scores and behavioral disorders.

In his presentation at the Coal Forum, David Marrack, M.D., Fort Bend Medical Clinic, said symptoms from irritant pollutants coming from coal plants include eye irritation with stinging and burning, nose burning, congestion, coughing, choking, asphyxia and death. Long-term effects can include low birth-weight babies, respiratory problems, child lung growth impairment, increased incidence of asthma, cognitive disorders and mental activity disorders.

The neurological disorders described by Marrack and other speakers are evident in the growing numbers of children who require special education. Out of 4.2 million students attending Texas schools, more than 10 percent require special education, according to Marrack. More than 250,000 children in Houston have an IQ less than 70. Marrack says the prevalence of lower IQ scores has doubled in the last 10 years.

Radioactive material in coal amounts can reach 10 parts per million (ppm). But plants burn trainloads of coal – ten thousand tons of coal can easily be consumed by these power plants in a single day at full load, says Neil Carman, and the amount of radioactive material can become significant. “The state says they’re not concerned about it because bag filters capture it,” he says. “But there is no measuring. TXU has no data on radionucleides that is made public, no testing in the smoke stacks, and there’s nothing in the permit that refers to radioactive material,” he adds.

Carman says regulation of coal-fired power plants by TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) has been dismal and is not expected to improve in the near future without pressure from the public and/or legislators. “The TCEQ has never turned down or denied a coal plant in Texas,” he says.

One of the proposed plants of greatest concern is the TXU Oak Grove plant in Robertson County near Franklin, according to Carman. If the permit is approved, the plant will burn lignite coal, the dirtiest kind of coal in two giant boilers several stories tall. “The plant will affect a huge area,” he says. “The huge 350-foot smoke stack will emit pollutants, heavier than air, that will come down and impact the whole eastern air shed of Texas,” he adds.

Other plants that cause concern are one in Riesel, near Waco; one for Rockdale at Alcoa’s smelter; one at Limestone; and two in Port Comfort, south of Victoria.

Coal plants already bring a huge amount of ozone and smog-forming pollution to Central Texas. Winds can carry pollution from power plants to cities farther away. A recent study shows transported pollution from East Texas and Central Texas contribute to smog in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area. “In the Dallas area last year, 75 percent of ozone and smog on certain high ozone days came from upwind areas where power plants are,” Carman says.

In addition to air quality problems caused by coal-burning plants, the mining of coal has a negative impact on the land and ground water where it is mined. Trains that carry the coal pollute as they are loaded and travel across the country. Burning coal also produces huge quantities of toxic waste including the bottom ash, fly ash, boiler slag, scrubber residues, and other wastes from cleaning as the boilers corrode. Coal waste regulations are full of loopholes and ground water contamination is a serious threat.

Carman suggests that citizens contact senators and legislators and urge them to pass legislation for better science and better regulation of the coal plants in Texas. To find out how to contact your representatives, go to CLEAN Links.