EDMONTON — In their closing arguments before the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, the Clean Energy Coalition has asked the Board to reject EPCOR's application for a new coal-fired power plant at its Genesee site west of Edmonton.
Tom Marr-Laing, Energy Watch Program Director and Mary Griffiths, Environmental Policy Analyst for the Pembina Institute1 told the Board that the plant is not needed to meet energy demand in the near future.
"There is no economic, environmental, or human health basis to justify a new coal-fired power plant, which is the dirtiest way to generate electricity," Marr-Laing said. "Building such a plant is simply not in the public interest at this time."
Marr-Laing and Griffiths highlighted the following reasons:
If all power projects that have been proposed are built, Alberta will have a 4,000 MW off-peak surplus in 2010 even at 3% per annum growth in demand during this decade. This means that Alberta's power needs can be easily met for the next decade by electricity from natural gas and co-generation projects, as well as from modest increases in renewable energy and investments in energy efficiency measures. Natural gas and co-generation produce far fewer air pollutants and less than half as many greenhouse gas emissions as electricity from coal-fired power plants.
Under deregulation, even if new coal generation goes ahead, consumers will pay prices that are consistent with the costs of cleaner gas-fired power plants while being exposed to the much higher levels of pollution of coal plants.
The EPCOR facility would produce large volumes of regional air pollutants including mercury, acidifying emissions (sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides), and primary and secondary emissions of fine particulate matter (PM). Mercury is a serious neurotoxin. Human exposure to PM is linked to increased rates of hospitalization and death due to aggravated cardiac and respiratory diseases such as asthma, bronchitis and emphysema and to various forms of heart disease.
Although EPCOR has now made a voluntary commitment to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions to U.S. levels, they do not intend to utilize best available demonstrated technology to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides. U.S. standards require new plants to reduce emissions to 66% or less than EPCOR's proposed emissions, while best available technology allows even greater reductions.
Alberta's greenhouse gas emission forecast is predicted to be much higher than previously expected, due in part to plans for new coal-fired power plants. Given the economic, social and environmental risks of climate change, it is prudent for Albertans to avoid creating unnecessary emissions of greenhouse gases.
The Genesee 3 Environmental Impact Assessment has serious gaps. It ignored the effects on people outside of a 30-km radius of the plant — including people in Edmonton and Leduc; it lacked reasonable baseline and monitoring data; and it contained no meaningful consideration of cumulative effects and the long range transport of pollution. This means that there is an unassessed risk for adverse effects on humans and ecosystems in the broader region.
"A smart electricity policy for Alberta is one that meets demand while minimizing the impact on the environment. This does not include coal-fired power plants at the present time," Griffiths said. "Until coal combustion technology is as clean as gas, new coal is simply not justifiable."
Released by the Pembina Institute on behalf of the Clean Energy Coalition Project Review Team.
For more information contact:
Tom Marr-Laing
Director, Energy Watch Program, Pembina Institute
Cell: 780-621-2472
Email: thomasml@pembina.org
Mary Griffiths
Policy Analyst, Pembina Institute
Office: 780-433-6675
Email: maryg@pembina.org