Study Links Power Plants to Deaths, Asthma

By ALEX DOMINGUEZ

BALTIMORE – Emissions from six Maryland power plants, three of them owned by an Atlanta-based company, are responsible each year for about 700 premature deaths nationwide, according to a report released Wednesday by the Maryland Nurses Association.

The association, which is supporting one of two competing clean-air proposals pending before state lawmakers, announced the findings along with officials from several other health and environmental groups that are supporting the Healthy Air Act.

Jonathan Levy, the Harvard University School of Public Health assistant professor who conducted the study, said he used previous research to estimate the health impact of the six plants based on 2004 emissions estimates and census data.

In addition to the premature deaths, emissions from the plants can be linked each year to 30,000 additional asthma attacks, including 4,000 in Maryland, Levy found.

While admitting there are numerous uncertainties in such an analysis, the study said the findings were reasonable estimates. The report also does not recommend any specific solution, but it does “provide some helpful data that could be used to inform decision-making,” Levy said.

Rob Gould, a spokesman for Constellation Energy, which owns three of the plants, said the company had not reviewed the report but the findings seem similar to those by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that prompted the establishment of the new national Ambient Air Quality standard for very fine particulates.

“In response, the EPA has finalized two of the most sweeping air pollution reduction rules ever promulgated, the Clean Air Diesel Rule and Clean Air Interstate Rule,” Gould said in a statement.

“Constellation Energy is very supportive of these new rules and we have already announced our intention to spend an additional $500 million to $600 million to install additional air pollution controls on top of the $250 million we have already spent.”

The Clean Air Interstate Rule, which will be implemented in 2010, will reduce nationwide power plant emissions of sulfur by 73 percent and nitrogen oxides by 61 percent, Gould said.

The two new rules will “allow Maryland to meet the new standard, comprehensively addressing the health problems identified,” the Constellation spokesman said.

The remaining three plants are owned by Mirant, an Atlanta-based wholesale energy marketer emerging from bankruptcy protection. Mirant spokeswoman Dave Thompson said company officials had not had a chance to review the study and did not have any immediate comment.

American Lung Association of Maryland President and CEO Steve Peregoy, who participated in a conference call to announce the results, said “the bottom line is the air quality in Maryland still needs to be improved.

“We have clearly identified the problems related to poor air quality. I think our focus really now needs to be on the solutions.”

Constellation, the parent of Baltimore Gas & Electric, owns the Brandon Shores plant southeast of Baltimore, the Wagner plant in Anne Arundel County and the C.P. Crane plant in Baltimore County. Mirant owns the Dickerson plant in Montgomery County, the Chalk Point plant in Prince George’s County and the Morgantown plant in Charles County.

Five of the plants are solely coal-fired while Chalk Point has both coal and oil units, said Eric Schaeffer, director of the Washington-based Environmental Integrity Project, who participated in a teleconference to announce the report.

In November, Gov. Robert Ehrlich proposed a clean-air measure that would not affect carbon dioxide emissions from the six power plants. Earlier this month, the governor said he would support a weakened version of the Healthy Air Act proposed by lawmakers, versions of which are pending in the state house and senate.

In response, the bill’s lead sponsor, state Sen. Paul G. Pinsky said he would not accept amendments to weaken the bill from the Ehrlich administration, which he said lobbied with the power industry to kill the bill during the previous session.

Supporters say adding pollution control equipment to meet the bill’s requirements could cost power companies $2 billion. Opponents, including Constellation and Mirant, have said the restrictions would cause rate increases and could lead to blackouts and power plant closures.

Schaeffer said so-called wet scrubbers can remove 90 percent of sulfur dioxide from coal-fired power plant emissions, a technology that has been available since the 1970s. While some plants might not have space for the equipment, those plants could use low-sulfur coal or other technologies, Schaeffer said.

“There isn’t a single scrubber in the state of Maryland,” Schaeffer said. “What Maryland has done is buy pollution credits from out-of-state plants that have cleaned up.”

Participants in the teleconference to announce the report said they supported the version proposed by lawmakers over the Ehrlich proposal, which relied more on environmental regulation and not defined limits written into law.

“Our basic concern is that if the Maryland legislation passes, it’s locked in, we know what we are getting,” Schaeffer said. “If we go down the rule-making road, there’s some uncertainty. We don’t know what’s going to come out the other end.”