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Released February 19, 2018 | SUGAR LAND
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Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The Tennessee Valley Authority (NYSE:TVE) (TVA) (Knoxville, Tennessee) recently estimated it could cost $900 million over 24 years to comply with a federal court order to bring one of its coal-ash ponds into compliance with the federal coal combustion residuals (CCR) rule. Another compliance option for that site, moving the ash off the premises at the Gallatin Fossil Plant near Nashville, could cost even more, as much as $2 billion. TVA asked instead to allow it to cap the Gallatin's unlined ash ponds, which would cost about $200 million over a dozen years, according to an Associated Press report.
But some TVA coal-ash pits and ponds already are leaking into nearby rivers and streams, which means capping the ponds won't do anything to alleviate violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA).
TVA is one of many coal-burning utilities trying to determine how best to comply with federal rules designed to protect the nation's waterways from byproducts of coal-fired generation. Other affected utilities include units of Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) (Charlotte, North Carolina), Southern Company (NYSE:SO) (Atlanta, Georgia), American Electric Power Company Incorporated (NYSE:AEP) (Columbus, Ohio), FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) (Akron, Ohio) and Dominion Energy Incorporated (NYSE:D) (Richmond, Virginia), among others.
Last year, Duke Energy's Carolinas unit disclosed its coal-ash disposal costs could exceed $5 billion, much higher than the utility had expected, according to The Charlotte Observer. The utility said it had already spent $770 million to dispose of coal-ash.
The CCR and another rule, the Effluent Limitations Guidelines (ELG), both enacted during the Obama administration, require coal-burning utilities to close and safely impound these byproducts of coal combustion. Elected officials and regulators were spurred to action on CCRs following a late-2008 collapse of a TVA coal-ash facility at its Kingston Power Station in Tennessee.
Last year the Trump administration repealed, and it may replace, the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, which sought to limit carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants. Also, last November, President Trump's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) extended a deadline for ELG compliance filings to November 2020 from November 2018. Prior to that extension, utilities had been required to file their initial ELG compliance plans by November 2018. For more on the EPA extension, see November 20, 2017, article - EPA Delays Deadlines for Effluent Limitations Guidelines.
Industrial Info is tracking 51 CCR or ELG projects in the U.S. collectively valued at $3.8 billion. Industrial Info expects that number to at least double or triple over the next few years.
CCRs is the term for a broad range of by-products resulting from the combustion of coal, including fly ash, bottom ash, boiler slag and flue gas desulfurization (FGD) materials. The EPA said CCRs are one of the largest industrial waste streams generated in the U.S. In 2012, more than 470 coal-fired electric utilities burned more than 800 million tons of coal, generating approximately 110 million tons of CCRs in 47 states and Puerto Rico, the agency estimated.
The 200-page CCR rule, enacted by the EPA under its authority in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, became effective in October 2015. The law requires utilities to eventually close all wet-ash ponds and move all dry-ash materials to landfills. The CCR rule will affect hundreds of facilities across the U.S. For more on the CCR compliance steps utilities have taken, see February 15, 2017, article - Project Spending Expected to Soar as Utilities Begin Compliance Planning for ELG, CCR Rules. For more on the CCR rule itself, see October 21, 2014, article - U.S. Power Industry's Regulatory Future, Part One: Clean Power Plan, Coal Combustion Residuals Stir Legal Fights.
The ELG rule was finalized September 30, 2015, by the EPA under its authority in the federal Clean Water Act. Prior to 2015, effluent standards had not been updated since 1982. Over a five-year period starting November 2018, the rule requires as many as 1,100 U.S. steam electric generators to comply with new limits on the amount of toxic metals and other harmful pollutants that can be discharged in their wastewater stream. These materials include byproducts of a power plant's wet flue gas desulfurization (FGD) units, as well as other harmful plant discharges like arsenic, lead, mercury, selenium, chromium and cadmium.
The regions with the largest book of CCR or ELG compliance projects under development are the Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast. The states with the largest amount of active CCR or ELG projects are Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.
Click on the images at right to see which regions, and which states, have the largest dollar value of CCR or ELG compliance projects under development.
"The Power industry dodged a bullet when the Trump administration repealed the Clean Power Plan," commented Brock Ramey, North American power specialist with Industrial Info. "The CPP was focused on one type of by-product of coal burning--carbon dioxide. Stay tuned to see what they plan to do about the CCR and ELG rules, which would also impose multibillion-dollar compliance obligations on coal-burning utilities."
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com.
But some TVA coal-ash pits and ponds already are leaking into nearby rivers and streams, which means capping the ponds won't do anything to alleviate violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA).
TVA is one of many coal-burning utilities trying to determine how best to comply with federal rules designed to protect the nation's waterways from byproducts of coal-fired generation. Other affected utilities include units of Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) (Charlotte, North Carolina), Southern Company (NYSE:SO) (Atlanta, Georgia), American Electric Power Company Incorporated (NYSE:AEP) (Columbus, Ohio), FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) (Akron, Ohio) and Dominion Energy Incorporated (NYSE:D) (Richmond, Virginia), among others.
Last year, Duke Energy's Carolinas unit disclosed its coal-ash disposal costs could exceed $5 billion, much higher than the utility had expected, according to The Charlotte Observer. The utility said it had already spent $770 million to dispose of coal-ash.
The CCR and another rule, the Effluent Limitations Guidelines (ELG), both enacted during the Obama administration, require coal-burning utilities to close and safely impound these byproducts of coal combustion. Elected officials and regulators were spurred to action on CCRs following a late-2008 collapse of a TVA coal-ash facility at its Kingston Power Station in Tennessee.
Last year the Trump administration repealed, and it may replace, the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, which sought to limit carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants. Also, last November, President Trump's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) extended a deadline for ELG compliance filings to November 2020 from November 2018. Prior to that extension, utilities had been required to file their initial ELG compliance plans by November 2018. For more on the EPA extension, see November 20, 2017, article - EPA Delays Deadlines for Effluent Limitations Guidelines.
Industrial Info is tracking 51 CCR or ELG projects in the U.S. collectively valued at $3.8 billion. Industrial Info expects that number to at least double or triple over the next few years.
CCRs is the term for a broad range of by-products resulting from the combustion of coal, including fly ash, bottom ash, boiler slag and flue gas desulfurization (FGD) materials. The EPA said CCRs are one of the largest industrial waste streams generated in the U.S. In 2012, more than 470 coal-fired electric utilities burned more than 800 million tons of coal, generating approximately 110 million tons of CCRs in 47 states and Puerto Rico, the agency estimated.
The 200-page CCR rule, enacted by the EPA under its authority in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, became effective in October 2015. The law requires utilities to eventually close all wet-ash ponds and move all dry-ash materials to landfills. The CCR rule will affect hundreds of facilities across the U.S. For more on the CCR compliance steps utilities have taken, see February 15, 2017, article - Project Spending Expected to Soar as Utilities Begin Compliance Planning for ELG, CCR Rules. For more on the CCR rule itself, see October 21, 2014, article - U.S. Power Industry's Regulatory Future, Part One: Clean Power Plan, Coal Combustion Residuals Stir Legal Fights.
The ELG rule was finalized September 30, 2015, by the EPA under its authority in the federal Clean Water Act. Prior to 2015, effluent standards had not been updated since 1982. Over a five-year period starting November 2018, the rule requires as many as 1,100 U.S. steam electric generators to comply with new limits on the amount of toxic metals and other harmful pollutants that can be discharged in their wastewater stream. These materials include byproducts of a power plant's wet flue gas desulfurization (FGD) units, as well as other harmful plant discharges like arsenic, lead, mercury, selenium, chromium and cadmium.
The regions with the largest book of CCR or ELG compliance projects under development are the Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast. The states with the largest amount of active CCR or ELG projects are Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.
Click on the images at right to see which regions, and which states, have the largest dollar value of CCR or ELG compliance projects under development. "The Power industry dodged a bullet when the Trump administration repealed the Clean Power Plan," commented Brock Ramey, North American power specialist with Industrial Info. "The CPP was focused on one type of by-product of coal burning--carbon dioxide. Stay tuned to see what they plan to do about the CCR and ELG rules, which would also impose multibillion-dollar compliance obligations on coal-burning utilities."
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, six offices in North America and 12 international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities. Follow IIR on: Facebook - Twitter - LinkedIn. For more information on our coverage, send inquiries to info@industrialinfo.com or visit us online at http://www.industrialinfo.com.
