Belews Creek Steam Station

Belews Creek Steam Station is a coal-fired power station owned and operated by Duke Energy near Belews Creek, North Carolina.

Plant Data

 * Owner/Parent Company: Duke Energy
 * Plant Nameplate Capacity: 2,160 MW
 * Units and In-Service Dates: 1,080 MW (1974), 1,080 MW (1975)
 * Location: 3195 Pine Hall Rd., Belews Creek, NC 27009
 * GPS Coordinates: 36.28, -80.060556
 * Coal Consumption:
 * Coal Source:
 * Number of Employees:

Emissions Data

 * 2006 CO2 Emissions: 14,034,728 tons
 * 2006 SO2 Emissions: 95,290 tons
 * 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
 * 2006 NOx Emissions: 21,179 tons
 * 2005 Mercury Emissions: 475 lb.

Coal Waste Site

 * Belews Creek Steam Station Active Ash Pond

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

"High Hazard" Surface Impoundment
Belews Creek Steam Station's Active Ash Pond surface impoundment is on the EPA's official June 2009 list of Coal Combustion Residue (CCR) Surface Impoundments with High Hazard Potential Ratings. The rating applies to sites at which a dam failure would most likely cause loss of human life, but does not assess of the likelihood of such an event.

Citizen groups

 * Appalachian Voices
 * Asheville Rising Tide
 * Canary Coalition
 * North Carolina Waste Awareness And Reduction Network
 * Sierra Club North Carolina Chapter
 * Southern Environmental Law Center
 * StopCliffside.org
 * Western North Carolina Alliance

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * North Carolina and coal
 * Duke Energy
 * United States and coal
 * Global warming