Elmer Smith Station

Elmer Smith Station is a coal-fired power station owned and operated by the City of Owensboro, Kentucky.

Plant Data

 * Owner: Owensboro Municipal Utilities
 * Parent Entity: City of Owensboro, Kentucky
 * Plant Nameplate Capacity: 445 MW (Megawatts)
 * Units and In-Service Dates: 163 MW (1964), 282 MW (1974)
 * Location: 4301 U.S. 60 East, Owensboro, KY 42303
 * GPS Coordinates: 37.794167, -87.060833
 * Coal Consumption:
 * Coal Source:
 * Number of Employees:

Emissions Data

 * 2006 CO2 Emissions: 2,846,615 tons
 * 2006 SO2 Emissions: 2,525 tons
 * 2006 NOx Emissions: 7,045 tons
 * 2005 Mercury Emissions: 59 lb.

Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from the Elmer Smith Station
In 2010, Abt Associates issued a study commissioned by the Clean Air Task Force, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization, quantifying the deaths and other health effects attributable to fine particle pollution from coal-fired power plants. The study found that over 13,000 deaths and tens of thousands of cases of chronic bronchitis, acute bronchitis, asthma-related episodes and asthma-related emergency room visits, congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, dysrhythmia, ischemic heart disease, chronic lung disease, peneumonia each year are attributable to fine particle pollution from U.S. coal-fired power plants. Fine particle pollution is formed from a combination of soot, acid droplets, and heavy metals formed from sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and soot. Among those particles, the most dangerous are the smallest (smaller than 2.5 microns), which are so tiny that they can evade the lung's natural defenses, enter the bloodstream, and be transported to vital organs. Impacts are especially severe among the elderly, children, and those with respiratory disease. Low-income and minority populations are disproportionately impacted as well, due to the tendency of companies to avoid locating power plants upwind of affluent communities.

The table below estimates the death and illness attributable to the Elmer Smith Station. Abt assigned a value of $7,300,000 to each 2010 mortality, based on a range of government and private studies. Valuations of illnesses ranged from $52 for an asthma episode to $440,000 for a case of chronic bronchitis.

Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from the Elmer Smith Station
Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed February 2011

==Toxic Waste Data ==
 * Arsenic Waste: 16,276 pounds
 * Air Release: 448 pounds
 * Water Release (Ohio River): 600 pounds
 * Land Release (Landfill): 15,228 pounds
 * Chromium Waste: 33,490 pounds
 * Air Release: 284 pounds
 * Water Release (Ohio River): 4,804 pounds
 * Land Release (Landfill): 28,402 pounds
 * Dioxin Waste: 1.55 grams
 * Air Release: 1.55 grams
 * Lead Waste: 14,623 pounds
 * Air Release: 459.3 pounds
 * Water Release (Ohio River): 1,200.9 pounds
 * Land Release: 12,962.8 pounds
 * Nickel Waste: 27,423 pounds
 * Air Release: 306 pounds
 * Water Release (Ohio River): 1,201 pounds
 * Land Release: 25,916 pounds
 * Total Land Release: 82,508.8 pounds
 * Total Air Release: 1,497.3 pounds
 * Total Water Release (Ohio River): 7,805.9 pounds

Litigation and Controversy

 * October 17, 1989
 * Elmer Smith plant is given a 5-star rating by Research Data International which cited the plant’s ability to compete in future deregulated markets, current performance rates, and sulfur dioxide emissions rates.
 * August 17, 2007
 * The Environmental Integrity Protection ranked the Elmer Smith plant as the 9th dirtiest in CO2 emissions per megawatt hour and 12th in NOX.

Citizen groups

 * Coal River Mountain Watch
 * Kentuckians for the Commonwealth
 * Kentucky Environmental Foundation
 * Kentucky Riverkeeper
 * New Power
 * Kentucky Environmental Foundation, Berea, KY, phone: (859) 986-7565
 * Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter

External resources

 * Existing Electric Generating Units in the United States, 2005, Energy Information Administration, accessed Jan. 2009.
 * Environmental Integrity Project, "Dirty Kilowatts: America’s Most Polluting Power Plants", July 2007.
 * Facility Registry System, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, accessed Jan. 2009.
 * Carbon Monitoring for Action database, accessed Feb. 2009.

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * Kentucky and coal
 * United States and coal
 * Global warming