21 July 2006The Star-LedgerAlexander Lane
With two new coal-fired power plants on the drawing board in New Jersey and 148 more planned across the country, an environmental group warned yesterday that this "coal rush" could cause global warming to spiral out of control.
The New Jersey Public Interest Research Group called on state officials to place a moratorium on construction and expansion of coal plants until anti-global warming policies can take effect.
"They're trying to hurry up and build coal plants and come in under the wire before regulations are adopted," said Dena Mottola, executive director of the group. "That's why you're seeing this surge and this rush to build coal right now."
Paul Thessen, executive vice- president of LS Power, which re cently acquired 300 acres on which it would like to build a coal plant in the Gloucester County town of West Deptford, said that charge was "totally without merit."
"Even if you have a plant out there that's already being built or operated you could still be subject to regulations, that's number one," Thessen said. "And number two, we've been working on developing coal plants for five years now, so it isn't something we just thought of yesterday."
The Public Interest Research Group report, entitled "Making Sense of the 'Coal Rush,'" said 150 coal plants were planned nationwide as of June, representing $137 billion of investment and the po tential capacity to power 96 million homes.
The group said that many plants would increase U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, the primary man-made contributor to global warming, by 10 percent. Instead, the U.S. should be cutting them by 80 percent to avoid the worst consequences of global warming, the group said.
Moreover, the plants would subject investors to risks of massive lawsuits for harming public health, not only with carbon dioxide but also with soot-forming sulfur dioxide, smog-forming nitrogen dioxide and the neurological toxicant mercury.
LS Power is in the early stages of seeking permits for the West Deptford plant, which the company hopes to have on line by 2012, Thessen said.
He said it would cost about $1 billion, provide 1,200 construction jobs and 100 permanent jobs, and produce 500 megawatts of electric ity, enough to supply 5,000 homes.
"The situation in New Jersey is that the load is growing and in the surrounding region the load is growing," Thessen said. "Coal is a very low-cost, stable-priced fuel, as compared to the other potential fuels like natural gas or oil, and it's a domestic resource."
However, the research group not only objected to traditional coal plants like the one LS Power plans, but also took a cautious stance on more modern gasified- coal plants, which could be set up to capture carbon dioxide emissions in the future.
Another company, SCS Energy LLC, is seeking the rights to build a gasified coal plant at the site of the B.L. England plant, a traditional coal plant in Cape May County's Upper Township.
Authorities should only permit such plants if they can capture carbon, and are demonstrated to be more cost effective than renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, the report said.
Jeanne Fox, president of the Board of Public Utilities, said in a statement that the wisest energy investments would be those "that can remain competitive in a future where we almost certainly will see constraints on emissions of greenhouse gasses to address global warming."
Furthermore, overall power plant emissions of carbon dioxide will not be allowed to increase in New Jersey since the state adopted the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, an agreement Northeastern states signed last year to keep their carbon emissions in check.
The foremost hurdle for any new coal plants would be receiving several permits from the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Alexander Lane covers the environment. He may be reached at ala [email protected] or (973) 392-1790.
