Comanche Generating Station Unit 3

Xcel Energy has built a 750 megawatt (MW) super-critical pulverized coal plant at the Comanche Generating Station in Pueblo, Colorado. The Comanche site has two existing units (325 MW and 335 MW).

In 2004, Xcel entered into a Settlement Agreement with environmental groups to reduce emissions and install SO2 controls at the existing units. The promised limitations are supposed to result in lower overall pollutants, even with the proposed third unit.

A “least cost resource plan” for Comanche Unit 3 was presented to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission in 2004.

In 2005 Clean Energy Action and Citizens for Clean Air and Water in Pueblo filed a legal complaint challenging the permit on several grounds, including the state’s failure to investigate whether emissions would actually be reduced, the potential for negative impact on surrounding wilderness, and the lack of a public comment period on the permit. The plant has also been controversial because of a proposal to charge Colorado ratepayers for the new plant while it is under construction. As a consequence of the public fallout surrounding this project, Xcel has acknowledged that it may never build another coal-fired power plant.

On January 31, 2007, Dan Friedlander, a member of Clean Energy Action, filed suit against the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC), alleging that the PUC allowed Xcel to violate the "long-standing practices of not charging ratepayers for power plants until they are operational."

As of July 2008, the air permit is under appeal at the Colorado State Supreme Court and a decision has not been reached in the Friedlander case.

In May 2009, Xcel Energy asked state regulators for a $180.2 million electricity rate hike to recoup money spent on power plants and equipment in Colorado. Most of the investment was for the Comanche 3 plant, which is reported to go online later this year.

As of October 2009, the Unit 3 was almost complete, and Xcel expected it to be in service by December.

Comanche 3 began generating electricity July 6 2010.

Both utility executives and environmental leaders say Comanche 3 will likely be Colorado's last coal plant - unless cost-effective carbon capture and sequestration technology with acceptable environmental risks gets developed.

February 26, 2010: ‘Die-in’ at Xcel Headquarters in Denver, Colorado
On February 26, 2010, local citizens in Denver staged a 'die-in' at the headquarters for Xcel Energy in opposition to the utility’s plan to build a new coal-fired power plant, Comanche 3, in Pueblo, Colorado. The plant would be the largest in the coal-fired power station in the state. Protesters cited environmental as well as social and economic issues as reasons for their actions. “Our leaders are failing to lead and Xcel is failing to take their responsibility seriously. Xcel should expect more protests and actions unless they start closing down coal plants and moving Colorado to 100% renewable electricity,” Kate Clark, a Power Past Coal activist. The protest was part of an ongoing series of actions by concerned citizens in Colorado who seek to end coal-power in the state.

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

Project Details
Sponsor: Xcel Energy Location: Pueblo, CO Capacity: 750 MW Type: Super-critical In service: 2010 Status: Operating

Financing

 * Citigroup
 * Morgan Stanley
 * Wells Fargo
 * Goldman Sachs

Citizen Groups

 * Clean Energy Action, Dan Friedlander, dan [at] cleanenergyaction.org
 * IREA Voices, info [at] ireavoices.org
 * Western Resource Advocates
 * Environment Colorado, Matt Baker, mbaker [at] environmentcolorado.org

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Carbon Capture and Storage
 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * US proposed coal plants (both active and cancelled)
 * Coal plants cancelled in 2007
 * Coal plants cancelled in 2008
 * Colorado and coal
 * Profiles of other states (or click on the map)