Lawrence Energy Center (Kansas)

Lawrence Energy Center is a coal-fired power station owned and operated by Westar Energy near Lawrence, Kansas.

Coal Supply
In its 2008 annual report, Westar stated that "We purchase coal under a contract with Arch Coal, Inc. (Arch). The current contract with Arch is expected to provide 100% of the coal requirement for these energy centers through 2010. BNSF transported coal for these energy centers from Wyoming under a contract that expired in December 2008. We have reached a mutual agreement of understanding with BNSF for the continuing provision of coal transportation to these energy centers until we finalize a long-term contract. During 2008, the average delivered cost of all coal burned in the Lawrence units was approximately $1.22 per MMBtu, or $21.56 per ton."

Plant Data

 * Owner/Parent Company: Westar Energy
 * Plant Nameplate Capacity: 566 MW (Megawatts)
 * Units and In-Service Dates: 49 MW (1955), 114 MW (1960), 403 MW (1971)
 * Location: 1250 North 1800 Rd., Lawrence, KS 66044
 * GPS Coordinates: 39.0114, -95.2764
 * Coal Consumption:
 * Coal Source:
 * Number of Employees:

Emissions Data

 * 2006 CO2 Emissions: 4,181,452 tons
 * 2006 SO2 Emissions: 2,612 tons
 * 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
 * 2006 NOx Emissions: 4,671 tons
 * 2005 Mercury Emissions: 174 lb.

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

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * Kansas and coal
 * Westar Energy
 * United States and coal
 * Global warming