Plans once touted as environmentally friendly ways to burn coal to produce electricity are falling victim to rising construction costs and the unknown expense of trapping global-warming gases.
For clean-air advocates, the issue is simple: “There’s no such thing as clean coal,” said Bruce Nilles, who directs the Sierra Club’s National Coal Campaign.
For consumers, however, the whole thing might seem a bit more complicated and expensive.
Clean is the word that power companies use to describe coal-fired plants they want to build to address our insatiable demand for electricity. These plants turn coal into a gas and release far fewer toxins than traditional plants.
But how clean is clean? And why are plans to build these plants falling apart?
Spiraling construction costs and questions about carbon dioxide emissions — a leading global-warming contributor — already have delayed plans to build dozens of traditional coal-burning power plants nationwide. Plans for at least 11 coal-to-gas plants have been scrapped or delayed.
A coal-gas plant that Cincinnati-based Global Energy wants to build in Lima has been delayed for years. Yesterday, the Sierra Club threatened to sue the company if it does not apply for a new air-pollution permit.
Officials at Columbus-based American Electric Power say they remain committed to building two coal-gas plants along the Ohio River, though construction estimates have risen by nearly $1 billion for each plant over three years. A legal dispute over the company’s plans to pay for one plant planned for Meigs County has delayed that project pending an Ohio Supreme Court ruling.
“It’s a good investment in the long run,” said Pat Hemlepp, an AEP spokesman.