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On any average day the Indian River Power Plant in Millsboro emits 186,869 pounds of chemicals into the air. These chemicals contribute to asthma, cancer and death every day, yet power plants have been unregulated for 50 years.
Public health officials say 95 Delawareans die annually because of coal-fired power plants. But public health officials are not in charge of the plants and are not taking an active role in plant regulations. Citizens groups say it’s time for change.
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) has been working with environmental groups, state agencies, the power industry and the public for the past several months to create regulations targeting power plant emissions.
The regulations will affect eight coal-fired units in Delaware, including the four at Indian River, three at Conectiv’s Edgemoor plant in Wilmington and one in Dover.
A draft regulation is being circulated, and this week DNREC held public workshops in each of the state’s three counties to discuss the regulations. The plan is to have a final proposal signed into law to meet a federal deadline in November. A public hearing on the regulations will be held in Dover Sept. 25.
A time has not been set.
Visit www.awm.delaware.gov/Info/Regs/AQMMultiPReg.htm for the actions leading up to the draft regulation.
Pollution problem
The main pollutants addressed by the regulations include nitrogen oxide, which contributes to ozone; sulfur dioxide, which contributes to acid rain; and mercury, which contributes to birth defects.
Only about 15 citizens attended the Sussex County workshop, held Wednesday, Aug. 2, at the University of Delaware’s Carvel Center outside Georgetown.
The citizens voicing objections to the proposal, included members of Citizens for Clean Power, a Lewes-based watchdog group, Alan Muller of Green Delaware, Joan Deaver of Citizens for a Better Sussex and a few other concerned citizens. Sen. George Bunting, D-Bethany Beach and Rep. Gerald Hocker, R-Ocean View also attended the workshop.
The citizens called for DNREC to create stricter regulations and urge power companies to shut down old plants and move toward alternative energy such as wind power.
“For over 20 years, Jim Cresson [former Cape Gazette reporter], Alan [Muller] and I kept this subject in front of the public,” said Bunting. “I’m grateful that this group is addressing [the problem], but shutting the plant down is not something the federal government will allow.”
The Indian River Power Plant plays a key role on the PJM (Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland) energy grid. The plant is located at the end of the line, and without it the entire grid would be vulnerable to blackouts and rolling brownouts, said Bunting.
Regulations
Part of DNREC’s proposal would not allow trading, which means power plants could not purchase credits to release more mercury into the air.
“I do feel that the requirements [put forth by DNREC], including no trading, are good,” said Bunting. “I do feel strongly that if the old units [once the new plant is built] cannot be cleaned up to deal with the 80 percent [regulations] then they will be taken off line.”
Local activists Bob and Vivian Barry were not so sure. They said the state is working too closely with the industry on the regulations, putting cost above the value of human health.
“If Indian River Power Plant was closed down. Delaware could buy electricity from the grid,” said Vivian. “It might cost more, but our electric bills have already doubled.”
The regulations proposed by DNREC would go into effect between 2009 and 2012, said Ali Mirzakhilili, administrator for DNREC’s air quality management section.
Proposed regulations would:
• Reduce nitrogen oxide by 76 percent
• Reduce sulfur dioxide by 87 percent
• Limit mercury to 50.9 pounds per year by 2013
• Not limit carbon dioxide or fine particulate matter
• Do it between 2009 and 2012
Muller said the state could do more to restrict the power plants and keep in line with neighboring states such as New Jersey and Maryland, that have set stronger regulations than those set by federal agencies.
“The average age of these units is 38 years old,” said Muller. “If the argument is that because these [units] are older then they can pollute more, then it seems like that should be the owners of the plants’ problem…not ours.”
Mirzakhilili said if the public comes forward with technical information at the public hearing, it will be taken into consideration by the committee before a final draft is put out. Citizens at the workshop noted that the DNREC officials were not taking notes.
“It seems like it’s a done deal,” said Vivian Barry.
Health problems
Muller presented a letter dated February 2005, written by Jaime Rivera, director of the Delaware division of public health.
The letter read: “EPA’s consultants estimate that fine-particle pollution from power plants shortens the lives of 95 Delaware residents each year. In our state alone, pollution from power plants causes 13,106 lost work days, 87 hospitalizations and 2,256 asthma attacks every year, 99 of which are so severe they require emergency room visits…Sadly, children are most susceptible to the detrimental effects of power plant pollution. In Delaware, 142,099 children live within 30 miles of a plant, the area in which the greatest health impacts are felt. Additionally, researchers have found that infants in areas with high levels of particulate matter pollution face a 26 percent increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome and a 40 percent increased risk of respiratory death.”
Muller noted that in his many years of attending workshops on pollution from power plants he has never heard from a public health official. He said some public health officials have attended meetings, but have remained silent.
“Something is seriously wrong that these folks at DNREC are doing someone else’s job,” said Muller. “It should be public health officials. How many people need to be killed annually before public health says something?”
“It’s been challenging for us to get cooperation from the medical community,” said Mirzakhilili.
Muller and Citizens for Clean Power are requesting help from the public to get stricter regulations for power plants.
“If the discussion can be shifted away from the traditional engineering/cost effectiveness regulatory mindset to a real consideration of health consequences, a breakthrough is possible,” said Muller. “Hundreds of lives could be saved in the coming years by tighter pollution controls.”
What you can do:
• Contact Gov. Ruth Ann Minner: 1-800-292-9570, leeann.walling@state.de.us
• Contact DNREC Sec. John Hughes: 302-739-9000, john.hughes@state.de.us
• Contact Health Dept. Sec. Vince Meconi, Vincent.meconi@state.de.us
To view more details compiled by Green Delaware, visit http://greendel.org/index.xhtml.
Some power plant facts
• Delaware power plants release 275 thousand pounds of pollution per day into the air
• This pollution causes asthma, heart disease, stroke, cancer, birth defects, reduced intelligence, premature birth and many other health problems
• If Indian River builds a new coal gasification system, the old power plant will not be shut down. The new plant will add to the polluted emissions released into the air.
• Every year 95 Delawareans die from complications directly related to coal-fired power plants.
• Even if the DNREC regulation proposal is adopted in its current form, 19 Delawareans would still die each year because of the power plants.
• Draft regulations proposed by DNREC do not meet the lowest achievable emission rate.
- Source: Green Delaware
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