Air pollution is a battle where the smoking guns are easily found.
In 2000, U.S. electric utility companies released approximately 1.1 billion pounds of toxic chemicals, more than the paper, chemical and metals industry combined. Five states — Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Florida and North Carolina — were responsible for 44 percent of those 1.1 billion pounds, said Joel Finkelstein of Clear the Air, a national campaign against factory pollution.
In 2001, Ohio’s coal-fired power plants were the worst in the nation for nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions and the third worst in the nation for carbon dioxide emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide can react in the atmosphere to form problems with low-level ozone, particulates and acid rain. They can also be transported great distances in the wind, which forms regional pollution problems. Carbon dioxide has no known health risks, but has been linked to global warming.
Through the first eight months of 2002, Ohio’s coal-fired power plants released 847,963 tons of sulfur dioxide, 255,537 tons of nitrogen oxide and 102.3 million tons of carbon dioxide. These eight month totals are higher than the 12 month totals of 47 states, the EPA said.
“The coal-fired power plants in Ohio are so dirty because the ones that were built prior to 1977, which is most of them, are grandfathered and do not need the best available pollution controls,” said Kurt Waltzer of the Ohio Environmental Council. “The Zimmer plant in Moscow, Ohio, was built in 1991 and it’s grandfathered just because it was planned before 1977, even though it was originally planned as a nuclear facility.”
Ohio’s coal-fired power plants are so dirty that other states have become involved. New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has filed lawsuits against eight power plants in Ohio.
“The problem is so severe that we’ve gone to federal court to get Ohio to clean up their power plants,” said Judith Enck, policy advisor to the New York Attorney General.
“It is surprising that people in Ohio are not joining us, since emission reductions at these plants would benefit them too, but we need to protect our citizens’ health and environment,” said Judith Enck, policy adviser to Spitzer.
New York has filed lawsuits against four power plants owned by Columbus-based American Electric Power, including the Gavin plant in Cheshire.
“All of our power plants are operating within the limits of the law,” said Melissa McHenry, a spokeswoman for AEP.
The town of Cheshire, population 221, was recently purchased by AEP for $20 million when residents began to file lawsuits against the company. The settlement was made before lawsuits could ever go to court. Residents were concerned about large blue clouds of sulfuric acid that formed above the Gavin plant’s smoke stacks and would occasionally descend upon the town.
The town’s mayor was quoted in the Columbus Dispatch as saying “I feel like they (AEP) are experimenting on us,” as AEP tinkered with pollution control equipment that caused the clouds. Residents complained of difficulty breathing, eye irritation and even skin burns. They get money only by waiving the right to sue AEP for property damage or any future health problems.
“I think nearly everyone in the town had their car repainted at least once because of the clouds, courtesy of AEP,” said Buckeye Environmental Network’s Teresa Mills, who worked with residents on their lawsuits. “Last June, a cloud came down on the town’s annual picnic. You could feel it like a fine mist in the air.”
The sulfuric acid clouds resulted in no violations for the plant because there is no limit on the levels of sulfuric acid that are allowed in the air, said Dean Ponchak, an environmental specialist with the Ohio EPA. AEP is still trying to fine-tune the pollution control equipment to prevent future clouds.
The Zimmer plant in Moscow is also becoming a hotbed for citizen unrest. The plant is owned by AEP, Cinergy and the Dayton Power and Light Co., and is also being sued by Spitzer.
“If you live within a mile and a half of a coal-fired power plant, you are living in a dead zone, and that is exactly where we live,” said Dennis Skeene, a life-long resident of Moscow.
“We’ve had problems with particulate matter sticking on everything — we’ve lost our school and all our local businesses — and the plant has depreciated our property values so much that we can’t sell. We are trapped here, and now that we’ve started to talk about lawsuits the plant won’t even acknowledge us. The Ohio EPA is an absolute joke and has done nothing to help us,” Skeene said.
According to Clear the Air, power plant pollution alone leads to nearly 2,000 premature deaths and 37,000 asthma attacks each year in Ohio.
“Ohio is one of the worst states in the nation in terms of dirty plants and few states have more deaths that can be attributed to grandfathered power plants,” Finkelstein said.
Some say that the number of illness could be even higher.
“Those numbers sound conservative to me,” said Molly Fontana, Executive Director of the American Lung Association’s Ohio Chapter.
The electric utility companies in Ohio, while only a part of a larger problem with air pollution, are responsible for 67 percent of the sulfur dioxide emissions, 25 percent of the nitrogen oxide emissions, 34 percent of the mercury emissions and 40 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions in the state, according to the EPA. Nearly 87 percent of the electricity generated in Ohio comes from coal-fired power plants.
