EIP Report: U.S. Power Plant Carbon Dioxide Emissions Rose 3 Percent in 2007, Biggest One-Year Jump

EIP Report: U.S. Power Plant Carbon Dioxide Emissions Rose 3 Percent in 2007, Biggest One-Year Jump in Nearly a Decade

Biggest Increases in Climate-Related Pollution Seen in TX, GA, AZ, CA, PA, MI, IA, IL, VA and NC; Major Factor: Increasing Use of Old, Inefficient Power Plants

WASHINGTON, March 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A poor progress report on efforts to rein in greenhouse gases: Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from U.S. power plants climbed 2.9 percent in 2007, the biggest single-year increase since 1998, according to new analysis by the nonprofit and nonpartisan Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) of data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Now the single largest factor in U.S. climate change pollution, the electric power industry's carbon dioxide emissions have risen 5.9 percent since 2002 and 11.7 percent since 1997.

The new EIP report shows that the 10 states with the biggest one-year increases in CO2 pollution are: Texas, Georgia, Arizona, California, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Iowa, Illinois, Virginia and North Carolina. According to the EIP analysis, Texas, Georgia and Arizona had the biggest CO2 pollution increases on a one-, five- and 10-year basis. Data from 2006 show that the 10 states that emitted the most CO2 per megawatt-hour of electricity produced (meaning the least efficient power production relative to resulting climate-related pollution) are: North Dakota, Wyoming, Kentucky, Indiana, Utah, West Virginia, New Mexico, Colorado, Missouri, and Iowa.

The EIP report provides context for the ongoing battles over proposed new coal plants. The report notes: "The data make clear why national environmental groups have expended so much effort trying to stop the construction of a new batch of conventional coal-fired power plants, which would make a bad situation worse. For example, the eight planned coal-fired plants that TXU withdrew in the face of determined opposition in Texas would have added an estimated 64 million tons of CO2 to the atmosphere, increasing emissions from power plants in that state by 24 percent. But some of the rise in CO2 emissions comes from existing coal fired power plants, either because these plants are operating at increasingly higher capacities, or because these aging plants require more heat to generate electricity ... any coal-fired power plants are churning out more CO2 than they did in years past. For example, all of the top 10 highest emitting plants in the nation, either held steady or increased CO2 output from 2006 to 2007. Georgia Power's Scherer plant -- the highest emitting plant in the nation, emitted 27.2 million tons of CO2 in 2007, up roughly 2 million tons since 2006. Some coal-fired plants date back fifty years or more, and carbon reduction strategies will need to include ways to permanently retire these plants."

Commenting on the report, Eric Schaeffer, director, Environmental Integrity Project, Washington, D.C. said: "The current debate over global warming policy tends to focus on long-term goals, like how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent over the next fifty years. But while we debate, CO2 emissions from power plants keep rising, making an already dire situation worse. Because CO2 has an atmospheric lifetime of between 50 and 200 years, today's emissions could cause global warming for up to two centuries to come."

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