Yorktown Power Station

Yorktown Power Station is a coal-fired power station owned and operated by Dominion in Yorktown, Virginia, which is in the process of being shut down by 2016.

Closure announcement
On Sept. 1, 2011, Dominion announced plans to close one of two coal-fired units at the Yorktown Power Station by 2015 and convert the second coal-fired unit to natural gas. Another coal-fired power plant, the Chesapeake Energy Center, was also listed for closure in the same announcement.

Reaction to the announcement included applause from the Sierra Club and others fighting coal power in Virginia. "Dominion has clearly signaled that it's time to shift away from dirty and dangerous sources of energy that affect the lives of every Virginian," said Mary Anne Hitt, Director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign.

Plant Data

 * Owner: Dominion Virginia Power
 * Parent Company: Dominion
 * Plant Nameplate Capacity: 376 MW (Megawatts)
 * Units and In-Service Dates: 188 MW (1957), 188 MW (1959)
 * Location: 1600 Waterview Rd., Yorktown, VA 23692
 * GPS Coordinates: 37.216775, -76.459307
 * Coal Consumption:
 * Coal Source:
 * Number of Employees:

Emissions Data

 * 2006 CO2 Emissions: 2,160,713 tons
 * 2006 SO2 Emissions: 21,685 tons
 * 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
 * 2006 NOx Emissions: 4,062 tons
 * 2005 Mercury Emissions: 110 lb.

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

Study finds dangerous level of hexavalent chromium at Dominion Yorktown coal waste site
The study "EPA’s Blind Spot: Hexavalent Chromium in Coal Ash," released by EarthJustice and the Sierra Club in early February 2011, reported elevated levels of hexavalent chromium, a highly potent cancer-causing chemical, at several coal ash sites in Virginia. In all, the study cited 29 sites in 17 states where hexavalent chromium contamination was found. The information was gathered from existing EPA data on coal ash as well as from studies by EarthJustice, the Environmental Integrity Project, and the Sierra Club. It included locations in Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Massachusetts, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virgina and Wisconsin.

According to the report, hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) was found at elevated levels at the following sites:
 * Dominion's Yorktown Power Station unlined coal ash pond at 100 ppb (parts per billion) - 5,000 times the proposed California drinking water goals and above the federal drinking water standard.

A press release about the report read:


 * Hexavalent chromium first made headlines after Erin Brockovich sued Pacific Gas & Electric because of poisoned drinking water from hexavalent chromium. Now new information indicates that the chemical has readily leaked from coal ash sites across the U.S. This is likely the tip of the iceberg because most coal ash dump sites are not adequately monitored.

According to the report, the electric power industry is the leading source of chromium and chromium compounds released into the environment, representing 24 percent of releases by all industries in 2009.

Citizen groups

 * Appalachian Voices
 * Blue Ridge Earth First
 * Concerned Citizens of Giles County
 * Do Something Charlottesville
 * Chesapeake Climate Action Virginia
 * Mountain Justice Blacksburg
 * Sierra Club Virginia Chapter
 * Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards
 * Virginia Tech Beyond Coal
 * Wise Energy for Virginia

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * Virginia and coal
 * Dominion
 * United States and coal
 * Global warming