April 21, 2006—A new report evaluating air pollution trends at the nation’s 100 largest electric power producers shows that emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) have fallen markedly in recent years, but carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have increased and will likely spike in coming years.
The report, which focused on companies generating 88 percent of the nation’s electricity, found that overall emissions of SO2 and NOx fell by 44 percent and 36 percent, respectively, between 1990 and 2004. According to the report, the drops are largely the result of stricter pollution-control standards enacted in the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments.
Conversely, CO2 emissions rose 27 percent in the same 14-year period. In addition, the report predicts a bigger increase in the years ahead due to an unprecedented surge of new US coal-plant proposals that would emit substantially more CO2 than other sources generating the same amount of power.
The study found that a small number of companies produce a relatively large amount of emissions, with three companies alone—American Electric Power, Southern Company, and Tennessee Valley Authority—responsible for 24 percent of the industry’s SO2 emissions, 21 percent of the NOx emissions, 19 percent of the CO2 emissions, and 22 percent of the mercury emissions.
The report also found wide disparities in emission rates—the amount of pollution generated for every kilowatt of electricity produced—reflecting differences in management strategies, fuel mix, and pollution-control technologies. For example, although American Electric Power produced seven times more electricity than PG&E, the company was responsible for 109 times the CO2 emissions. In addition, Southern Company produced about 58 percent more electricity than Entergy, but emitted 400 percent more CO2, says the report.
Benchmarking Air Emissions of the 100 Largest Electric Power Producers in the United States 2004 was released by the Ceres investor coalition, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Public Service Enterprise Group Inc (PSEG), one of the electric power generation companies included in the report. For more information visit NRDC.
