Amid growing concerns around the country over pollution from coal-fired power plants, the U.S. Department of Energy quietly released a report this week showing a continuing surge in construction of the generators.
Electric utilities currently have plans to build 129 new coal-burning plants by 2025, with the largest numbers on the drawing boards in Illinois (13), Kentucky (8), Florida (7), Pennsylvania (7) and Montana (6), the DOE said.
If the trend continues, the report notes, coal will outstrip natural gas in 20 years as the fuel of choice for new power plants.
King Coal could have a rough ride on his return to the energy throne, though. Just this week, environmentalists in four states were raising objections to coal plant expansions. The disputes illustrate the problems for utilities struggling to meet future energy demands.
A Montana utility actually considered wind energy a cleaner and cheaper alternative to a new coal-fired plant, but discovered that the wind only blows a third of the time. “The last time I looked, the people we serve want uninterrupted power,” the utility’s general manager said in the Great Falls Tribune.
Electric companies in Minnesota and North Dakota say they must double the size of a coal plant serving the two states to meet demands that will grow up to 25 percent in the next decade. Even the most aggressive conservation efforts won’t make up for the increased demands, a utility spokesman told the Minneapolis Forum.
And in Illinois, where a plant developer is promising that “clean coal” technology will produce few emissions from a new plant near the Indiana border, critics are urging a switch to more expensive natural gas, according to the Evansville (Ind.) Courier & Press.
There’s a national issue with coal’s resurgence, too. As the Washington Post reported a year ago, the expansion of coal power in the West could diminish visibility in some of our most scenic national parks for years to come.
