The Baldwin Energy Complex coal-fired power plant in Baldwin is the dirtiest power plant in Illinois based on carbon dioxide (CO₂) pollution, ranking it as the 30th dirtiest plant in the country for 2007, according to a new analysis of government data released today by Environment Illinois.

“It’s time for the oldest and dirtiest power plants to clean up their act,” said Environment Illinois Citizen Outreach Director Brandi Beals.

“Coal-fired giants have dominated our electricity for decades and have been allowed to pollute without license.  In order to stop global warming and reap all the benefits of clean energy, we must require old coal-fired clunkers to meet modern standards for global warming pollution.”

Coal is the dirtiest of all fuels, but it supplies more of America’s electricity than any other source.  Coal plants currently do not have to meet any global warming pollution standard, meaning that they are an unchecked contributor to global warming.

In fact, coal plants are the nation’s single largest source of global warming pollution.

The growing impacts of global warming will impose threats to our safety and immense financial cost on our society, and most notably for Illinois, more frequent and severe heat waves, which will increase the number of people who suffer heat stress and stroke.

To avoid the worst effects of global warming, the science shows that the United States must cut its global warming pollution by 35 percent by 2020.

The new report from Environment Illinois, “America’s Biggest Polluters: Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Power Plants in 2007,” looks at carbon dioxide emissions from power plants across the country using 2007 data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; 2007 is the most recent year for which final data is available.

The report examines both age of and pollution from power plants to document the fact that we are reliant on an energy infrastructure that is both old and polluting.

The key findings include the following:

• Illinois ranked 6th nationwide for the most carbon dioxide pollution from power plants in 2007.

• Illinois is home to the 21st oldest operating power plant in the country.  The Havana plant in Havana has been operating for 60 years, built within a decade of the television first becoming commercially available.  Many of the plants in Illinois are decades-old.  In fact, 22 of Illinois’ 52 plants were built before 1980.
• The Baldwin Energy Complex power plant located in Baldwin in Illinois ranked as the 30th dirtiest power plant in the country in 2007 based on its carbon dioxide emissions.  The Baldwin Energy Complex plant has been in operation since 1970, before President Ford became President, and produces the same amount of global warming pollution in a year as almost two and a half million of today’s cars.

Nationally, the report shows that America’s power is dominated by old and polluting plants, and that the oldest and dirtiest plants often go hand-in-hand.

Power plants built three decades ago or more produced 73 percent of the total global warming pollution from power plants in 2007.

Older power plants on average are dirtier per unit of energy than newer ones.

“America’s power is both decades-old and dangerously polluting.  We’re reliant on technology that’s as old as the very first commercially available televisions.

Televisions have gone from black-and-white clunkers to super high-definition flat screens, but they’re still powered by the same dirty electricity,” Beals said.

“Clean energy holds the future of America—to make our nation energy independent, create millions of new jobs, and stop the worst effects of global warming.  In order to realize this clean energy future, coal plants must stop polluting with impunity,” continued Beals.

The U.S. Senate is slated to consider legislation in the next few months to establish the first-ever federal limits on global warming pollution and standards and incentives for clean energy.

In addition, EPA has proposed a rule to require coal plants and other large smokestack industries to use available technology to cut their global warming pollution when new facilities are constructed or existing facilities are significantly modified.

However, the coal industry is fighting the transition to clean energy.  The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a coal industry lobby group, spent at least $40 million dollars in 2008 alone – more than $100,000 a day – on lobbyists and advertising on energy.

Earlier this year, they hired lobbyists who forged phony constituent letters to Congress opposing action on clean energy.

To access the report, click here.