Danskammer Generating Station

Danskammer Generating Station (also known as Roseton Generating Station) is a coal-fired power station owned and operated by Dynegy near Newburgh, New York. This station is on the Central Hudson Gas and Electric Corporation grid.

According to iLoveMountains.org, Danskammer purchases coal directly from companies who practice mountaintop removal mining (MTR). The plant is connected to the Fanco mountaintop removal mine in West Virginia, which is operated by the Apogee Coal Company LLC and controlled by Patriot Coal.

Damskammer was rendered inoperable as a result of Superstorm Sandy in late October 2012. In December 2012, it was announced by Dynegy that the Damskammer Generating Station will be sold to ICS NY Holdings, LLC for $3.5 million in cash and ICS’ assumption of certain liabilities. Danskammer will be retired upon completing the appropriate regulatory processes. Following closing of the sale and retirement notification process, ICS will demolish any remaining structures and remediate the site.

Plant Data

 * Owner: Dynegy Northeast Generation Inc.
 * Parent Company: Dynegy
 * Plant Nameplate Capacity: 387 MW (Megawatts)
 * Units and In-Service Dates: 147 MW (1959), 239 MW (1967)
 * Location: 992 River Rd., Newburgh, NY 12550
 * GPS Coordinates: 41.5688, -73.973682
 * Coal Consumption:
 * Coal Source:
 * Number of Employees:

Emissions Data

 * 2006 CO2 Emissions: 2,746,225 tons
 * 2006 SO2 Emissions:
 * 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
 * 2006 NOx Emissions:
 * 2005 Mercury Emissions:

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

Coal Sources
At least a portion of coal burned at Danskammer comes from Colombia. In 2006, the plant received at least one 11,000-ton shipment of coal from el Cerrejón mine, which is owned by a consortium of Anglo American (33%), Glencore International (33%) and BHP Billiton (33%).

Colombian Coal and Human Rights Violations
Colombia's coal mines, like many industries in the country, are filled with stories of displacement and terror. A number of entire communities in the coalfields have been displaced, including Tabaco, a 700-person Afro-Colombian village that was razed in 2001. People living near the coalfields have faced malnutrition, diseases such as ringworm, and restricted access to land since the large mines opened up.

The Drummond Company (operator of la Loma mine in Colombia) has been the subject of numerous lawsuits regarding the murders of 70 union miners and railroad workers, collectively. The murdered Colombians were killed by the notorious paramilitary group, United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), which had been hired by Drummond to act as security. In addition to those killed, a lawsuit against Drummond describes "how hundreds of men, women, and children were terrorized in their homes, on their way to and from work… innocent people killed in or near their homes or kidnapped to never to return home, their spouses and children being beaten and tied up, and people being pulled off buses and summarily executed on the spot."

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * New York and coal
 * Dynegy
 * United States and coal
 * Global warming