Report: Plant Bowen Emissions 10th Most Toxic in Nation

Southern Company's Plant Bowen, a steam, electric-generating plant just outside in , is 10th on the list of the top 20 power plants with the most toxic emissions in the nation, according to report issued by Environmental Integrity Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization established by former Environmental Protection Agency enforcement attorneys.

"Power plant toxic emissions have declined over the past decade, but the decrease is being driven by a few companies that are installing modern pollution controls while the rest of the nation’s power plants are doing very little," the report states. "...A relatively small handful of the nation’s most polluting power plants generate a disproportionate amount of reported toxic emissions.

"The data show that toxic emissions can be reduced, and have been at a number of plants, but that a strong national rule is needed to protect all Americans equally, and to force the dirtiest power plants to clean up."

EIP's report, released in conjunction with Earthjustice and the Sierra Club and attached to this article, focuses on toxic heavy metals it says are emitted in relatively high quantities by the electric utility industry—arsenic, chromium, lead, mercury, nickel and selenium. It also contains statistics on emissions of hydrochloric acid, an acid gas.

While Georgia is No. 7 in the nation in the aggregate eight hazardous air pollutants, Bowen comes in at No. 10 across the country in the combined emissions of arsenic, chromium, lead and mercury, all highly toxic metals.

Here are Bowen's rankings for nationwide emissions levels of these pollutants:

• Arsenic—11th
• Chromium—ninth
• Lead—seventh
• Mercury—not listed
• Nickel—13th
• Selenium—ninth
• Hydrochloric acid—66th

EIP says EPA is poised to adopt more stringent regulations mainly targeting mercury and acid gases, which would avoid between 6,800 and 17,000 premature deaths each year and result in annual savings of $48 to $140 billion.

While Georgia has enacted laws to limit mercury pollution, it has seen little to no reduction in arsenic emissions. EPA has taken enforcement actions against some of the nation’s largest electric power companies to require installation of modern pollution controls on coal-fired power plants in Georgia and other states.