Newton Power Station

Newton Power Station is a coal-fired power station owned and operated by Ameren near Newton, Illinois.

Under a deal brokered with state officials, Ameren agreed to curb mercury emissions and reduce smog- and soot-forming sulfur dioxide emissions at its coal plants (including Newton) by 2015, in line with updated EPA regulations. In September 2012 the Illinois Pollution Control Board unanimously granted Ameren a five-year reprieve from upgrading Newton's pollution controls, as Ameren said upgrading the facility would be too costly for the company and would force Ameren to shutter at least two of its other coal plants and lay off hundreds of workers.

Plant Data

 * Owner/Parent Company: Ameren
 * Plant Nameplate Capacity: 1,235 megawatts (MW0
 * Units and In-Service Dates: 617 MW (1977), 617 MW (1982)
 * Location: 6725 North 500th St., Newton, IL 62448
 * GPS Coordinates: 38.936111, -88.277778
 * Coal Consumption:
 * Coal Source:
 * Number of Employees:

Emissions Data

 * 2006 CO2 Emissions: 7,943,291 tons
 * 2006 SO2 Emissions: 20,922 tons
 * 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
 * 2006 NOx Emissions: 4,748 tons
 * 2005 Mercury Emissions: 463 lb.

Coal Waste Sites

 * Newton Power Station Primary Ash Pond
 * Newton Power Station Secondary Ash Pond

Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from Newton
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. Fine particle pollution consists of a complex mixture of soot, heavy metals, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. Among these particles, the most dangerous are those less than 2.5 microns in diameter, 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. The study found that over 13,000 deaths and tens of thousands of cases of chronic bronchitis, acute bronchitis, asthma, congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, dysrhythmia, ischemic heart disease, chronic lung disease, and pneumonia each year are attributable to fine particle pollution from U.S. coal plant emissions. These deaths and illnesses are major examples of coal's external costs, i.e. uncompensated harms inflicted upon the public at large. 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. To monetize the health impact of fine particle pollution from each coal plant, 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 Newton Power Station
Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed March 2011

Related SourceWatch Articles

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