Brandon Shores Generating Station

Brandon Shores Generating Station is a coal-fired power station owned and operated by Constellation Energy near Curtis Bay, Maryland.

Plant Data

 * Owner: Constellation Power Source Generation
 * Parent Company: Constellation Energy
 * Plant Nameplate Capacity: 1,370 MW
 * Units and In-Service Dates: 685 MW (1984), 685 MW (1991)
 * Location: 1000 Brandon Shores Rd., Curtis Bay, MD 21226
 * GPS Coordinates: 39.180833, -76.53033
 * Coal Consumption:
 * Coal Source: Paso Diablo Mine, Massey Energy Hutchinson Kanawha Mine, Twilight MTR Surface Mine, Mountain Laurel Complex, Brooks Run Mine 5, Omni Coal Stonecoal Loadout, Holden 22 Surface Mine, Peabody Coal Wells Preparation Plant.
 * Number of Employees:

Emissions Data

 * 2006 CO2 Emissions: 8,094,442 tons
 * 2006 SO2 Emissions: 40,467 tons
 * 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
 * 2006 NOx Emissions: 11,964 tons
 * 2005 Mercury Emissions: 640 lb.

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

Brandon Shores second highest in annual air toxin emissions
According to a July 2011 NRDC report, "How Power Plants Contaminate Our Air and States" Brandon Shores released the second highest amount of toxic air pollutants annually - 13.1 million pounds - of any plant in the nation, based on data from the EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory (2009 data, accessed June 2011).

Pollution controls
The state’s nurses association commissioned a study that found that, in 2006, emissions from Brandon Shores caused 700 deaths per year nationwide, including 100 in Maryland. In 2010, Constellation completed an $885 million pollution control installation at its units, to comply with Maryland law and in anticipation of the EPA's Transport Rule.

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * Maryland and coal
 * Constellation Energy
 * United States and coal
 * Global warming