PPL

PPL, formerly known as PP&L or Pennsylvania Power and Light, is an electric company headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It currently controls over 11,000 megawatts (MW) of electrical generating capacity in the United States, primarily in Pennsylvania and Montana, and delivers electricity to customers in the United Kingdom. PPL recently sold all subsidiaries in Latin America and its Telcom subsidiary (PPL Telcom), and is now based solely in the US and UK.

The majority of PPL's power plants burn coal, oil, or natural gas. PPL recently has invested heavily in peaking plants. These plants require few operators and have a high profit margin due to their ability to rapidly come online when the price of electricity spikes. PPL's largest plant is the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, a 2,352 megawatt (MW) nuclear power plant PPL Susquehanna, located on its namesake river seven miles northeast of Berwick, Pennsylvania.

The company is publicly-traded on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker symbol NYSE: PPL.

Congressional campaign contributions
PPL is one of the largest energy company contributors to both Republican and Democratic candidates for Congress. In 2010, PPL spent $400,000 in the first quarter to lobby the federal government on climate change issues and plug-in electric vehicles, more than the $340,000 the company spent in the fourth quarter and the $200,000 spent in the first quarter of 2009. PPL also lobbied Congress on coal ash issues, energy efficiency, and a program that helps low-income families pay their utility bills.

In 2008, these contributions totaled $221,900 to the 110th US Congress (as of the third quarter), the largest of which has been to Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) for $28,000. Senator Specter, for his part, has repeatedly voted with the coal industry on energy, war and climate bills. Contributions like this from fossil fuel companies to members of Congress are often seen as a political barrier to pursuing clean energy. More information on coal industry contributions to Congress can be found at FollowtheCoalMoney.org, a project sponsored by the nonpartisan, nonprofit Oil Change International and Appalachian Voices.

Negative tax rate
A 2011 analysis by Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, "Corporate Taxpayers & Corporate Tax Dodgers: 2008-10" found dozens of companies, including fossil fuels, used tax breaks and various tax dodging methods to have a negative tax balance between 2008 and 2010, while making billions in profits. The study found 32 companies in the fossil-fuel industry -- such as Peabody Energy, ConEd, and PG&E -- transformed a tax responsibility of $17.3 billion on $49.4 billion in pretax profits into a tax benefit of $6.5 billion, for a net gain of $24 billion.

The companies that paid no tax for at least one year between 2008 and 2010 are the utilities Ameren, American Electric Power, CenterPoint Energy, CMS Energy, Consolidated Edison, DTE Energy, Duke Energy, Entergy, FirstEnergy, Integrys, NextEra Energy, NiSource, Pepco, PG&E, PPL, Progress Energy, Sempra Energy, Wisconsin Energy and Xcel Energy.

Purchasing two KY utilities from E.ON
As of June 2010, PPL plans on buying two Kentucky utilities for $7.6 billion from German power company E.ON AG. The deal for Louisville Gas & Electric and Kentucky Utilities would give the company an additional 1.2 million customers.

Power portfolio
Out of its total 12,611 MW of electric generating capacity in 2005 (1.18% of the U.S. total), PPL produced 47.4% from coal, 20.6% from nuclear, 17.8% from oil, 7.5% from hydroelectricity, and 7.1% from natural gas. PPL owns power plants in Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Montana, New York, and Pennsylvania; 67.6% of the company's generating capacity comes from power plants in Pennsylvania.

EPA releases list of 44 "high hazard" coal ash dumps
In response to demands from environmentalists as well as Senator Barbara Boxer (D-California), chair of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, the EPA made public a list of 44 "high hazard potential" coal waste dumps. The rating applies to sites at which a dam failure would most likely cause loss of human life, but does not include an assessment of the likelihood of such an event. PPL owns one of the sites, which stores coal combustion waste for the Colstrip Steam Plant in Montana. To see the full list of sites, see Coal waste.

Study finds dangerous level of hexavalent chromium at PPL's Martins Creek coal waste site
The study "EPA’s Blind Spot: Hexavalent Chromium in Coal Ash," released by EarthJustice and the Sierra Club in early February 2011, reported elevated levels of hexavalent chromium, a highly potent cancer-causing chemical, at several coal ash sites in Pennsylvania. In all, the study cited 29 sites in 17 states where hexavalent chromium contamination was found. The information was gathered from existing EPA data on coal ash as well as from studies by EarthJustice, the Environmental Integrity Project, and the Sierra Club. It included locations in Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Massachusetts, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virgina and Wisconsin.

According to the report, hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) was found at elevated levels at the following sites:
 * PPL's Martins Creek Steam Station unlined coal waste pond at 100 ppb - 5,000 times the proposed California drinking water goals and above the federal drinking water standard.

A press release about the report read:


 * Hexavalent chromium first made headlines after Erin Brockovich sued Pacific Gas & Electric because of poisoned drinking water from hexavalent chromium. Now new information indicates that the chemical has readily leaked from coal ash sites across the U.S. This is likely the tip of the iceberg because most coal ash dump sites are not adequately monitored.

According to the report, the electric power industry is the leading source of chromium and chromium compounds released into the environment, representing 24 percent of releases by all industries in 2009.

Existing coal-fired power plants
PPL owned 13 coal-fired generating stations in 2005, with 5,982 MW of capacity.PPL's coal power plants are:

In 2006, PPL's 5 coal-fired power plants emitted 39.4 million tons of CO2 (0.65% of all U.S. CO2 emissions) and 272,000 tons of SO2 (1.81% of all U.S. SO2 emissions).

Corette Plant
In September 2012 PPL said its Corette Plant near Billings, Montana will be mothballed starting in April 2015 because it will cost too much to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency's Mercury and Air Toxics Standard that take effect in April 2015. The plant will then be placed in reserve status, commonly called mothballing. Mothballing the Corette plant, rather than shutting it down permanently, gives PPL Montana the opportunity to resume operations at some point if conditions change.

Coal lobbying
PPL is a member of the American Coal Ash Association (ACAA), an umbrella lobbying group for all coal ash interests that includes major coal burners Duke Energy, Southern Company and American Electric Power as well as dozens of other companies. The group argues that the so-called "beneficial-use industry" would be eliminated if a "hazardous" designation was given for coal ash waste.

ACAA set up a front group called Citizens for Recycling First, which argues that using toxic coal ash as fill in other products is safe, despite evidence to the contrary.

In 2011 PPL, which purchased Montana Power Co.'s dams and coal-fired plants in 1999, was listed as one of the top five lobbying spenders in the state of Montana. The company led lobbying spending during the 2007 and 2009 Montana legislative sessions.

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * James H. Miller
 * Montana and coal
 * Pennsylvania and coal
 * United States and coal
 * Global warming

External resources

 * Oil Change International
 * Appalachian Voices
 * FollowtheCoalMoney.org