Are Pennsylvania coal burners cheering?
Pennsylvania is home to 47 power plants; some of them have been operating since 1955. These 47 plants operate 137 separate boilers, called units. About 42 percent of the units burn coal, while about 15 percent use natural gas as fuel and 6 percent use oil. Only one unit at newly reopened and re-powered Seward plant located in Indiana County has the best available technology – selective catalytic reduction (SCR) – as its primary nitrogen oxide control. The Montour power plant located in Montour County, has 2 units with SCR as secondary nitrogen oxide controls. Most of the power plants are using an outdated technology, called low NOx (nitrogen oxide) burners, which are inadequate to control pollutants. And they aren’t doing nearly enough. Here in Pennsylvania more than 93 percent of nitrogen oxides [NOx], 88 percent of carbon dioxide [CO2], and 99 percent of mercury is released into the breathable air come from coal burning units. Power plant pollution plays a role in asthma, acid rain,
