Gorgas Steam Plant

Gorgas Steam Plant is a coal-fired power station owned and operated by Southern Company near Parrish, Alabama.

Plant Data

 * Owner: Alabama Power Company
 * Parent Company: Southern Company
 * Plant Nameplate Capacity: 1,417 MW
 * Units and In-Service Dates: 125 MW (1951), 125 MW (1952), 188 MW (1956), 190 MW (1958), 789 MW (1972)
 * Location: 460 Gorgas Rd., Parrish, AL 35580
 * GPS Coordinates: 33.645028, -87.19875
 * Coal Consumption:
 * Coal Source: East Brookwood Mine, Fleetwood Mine, Gibson Mine, L Massey Mine, Johnson Mine (Alabama Coal)
 * Number of Employees:

Emissions Data

 * 2006 CO2 Emissions: 8,141,864 tons
 * 2006 SO2 Emissions: 81,268 tons
 * 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
 * 2006 NOx Emissions: 13,076 tons
 * 2005 Mercury Emissions: 1,004 lb.

Coal Waste Site

 * Gorgas Steam Plant Ash Pond
 * Gorgas Steam Plant Ash Pond Rattlesnake Dam

Gorgas ranked 7th on list of most polluting power plants in terms of coal waste
In January 2009, Sue Sturgis of the Institute of Southern Studies compiled a list of the 100 most polluting coal plants in the United States in terms of coal combustion waste (CCW) stored in surface impoundments like the one involved in the TVA Kingston Fossil Plant coal ash spill. The data came from the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) for 2006, the most recent year available.

Gorgas Steam Plant ranked number 7 on the list, with 2,888,290 pounds of coal combustion waste released to surface impoundments in 2006.

Carbon Capture and Storage research
In June 2010 the University of Alabama announced that it had "been awarded a U.S. Department of Energy grant totaling more than $4.85 million for a multidisciplinary project that will characterize geologic formations for carbon dioxide storage in Alabama". The project aims to "define an estimated 28 gigatons of carbon dioxide storage capacity underlying northwest Alabama". The funds originated from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. UA News reported that the project will "investigate the possibility for storage in an underground reservoir in the vicinity of the Alabama Power Gorgas Steam Plant. Successful completion of the project has the potential to extend the useful life of coal-fired power plants throughout the region. By investigating the geology near existing power plants, transportation costs to a carbon dioxide storage area would be greatly reduced." Other groups involved in the project are the Alabama Geological Survey and Rice University and industry co-funders are Alabama Power and Southern Company.

Citizen Groups
See also Alabama and coal
 * Black Warrior Riverkeeper
 * GASP (formerly Alabama First)

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * Alabama and coal
 * Southern Company
 * United States and coal
 * Global warming