Crystal River Energy Complex

Crystal River Energy Complex is a coal-fired power station owned and operated by Progress Energy near Crystal River, Florida.

In December 2008, Progress Energy Florida announced it will close two of the state's worst polluting coal-fired generators when its new Levy County nuclear plant is up and running in 2020. The company said the closure of two units at its Crystal River Energy Complex represents the equivalent of removing 830,000 vehicles from Florida's roads. The decision follows months of talks with state officials, including Gov. Charlie Crist and Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael W. Sole, said Progress Energy Florida chief executive Jeff Lyash. Crist has hoped to reduce state carbon dioxide emissions to the 1990 level by 2025. The scheduled closure of the two Crystal River plants means the company would be 60 percent of the way toward the governor's goal, according to Progress Energy officials. Independent studies have listed the two coal plants among the nation's top 50 polluters.

The energy created by the two Crystal River coal plants, which opened in 1966 and 1969, will be replaced by the new nuclear plant set to be built at a cost of $17-billion in Levy County. Two coal-fired power generators will remain in operation at the Citrus County site, as will a nuclear reactor. Progress Energy will spend $1.3-billion installing air emission-reduction equipment at the two remaining coal-fired plants. Early in 2007, Progress Energy won approval to raise bills 25 percent starting in January to pay for higher 2008 fuel costs and for early costs of the $17-billion nuclear project. The nuclear charge will add about $13 a month to the bill of the average residential customer, about 10 percent more.

Plant Data

 * Owner/Parent Company: Progress Energy
 * Plant Nameplate Capacity: 2,443 MW
 * Units and In-Service Dates: 441 MW (1966), 524 MW (1969), 739 MW (1982), 739 MW (1984)
 * Location: 15760 West Powerline St., Crystal River, FL 34428
 * GPS Coordinates: 28.958111, -82.699722
 * Coal Consumption:
 * Coal Source: Omni Coal Buckhorn 2 Mine; Resource Energy; Alpha Coal Roxana and Pioneer Prep Plants; Arch Coal Kentucky River Loading; James River Coal 76 Plant; Fork Creek 1 Mine.
 * Number of Employees:

Emissions Data

 * 2006 CO2 Emissions: 16,026,758 tons
 * 2006 SO2 Emissions: 95,548 tons
 * 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
 * 2006 NOx Emissions: 35,412 tons
 * 2005 Mercury Emissions: 550 lb.

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

Citizen groups

 * Big Bend Climate Action Team
 * Conservancy of Southwest Florida
 * Environment Florida
 * Florida Wildlife Federation
 * Save It Now, Glades
 * Sierra Club Florida Chapter

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * Florida and coal
 * Progress Energy
 * United States and coal
 * Global warming