Sutherland Generating Station

Sutherland Generating Station is a coal-fired power station owned and operated by Alliant Energy near Marshalltown, IA.

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

2010: Alliant to close coal boilers at six sites
According to plans filed with the Minnesota Public Service Commission on November 1, 2010, Alliant Energy plans to close coal-fired boilers at six sites in Iowa:


 * Sixth Street Generating Station (all units) (Cedar Rapids)
 * Prairie Creek Generating Station Unit 2 (Cedar Rapids)
 * Dubuque Generating Station Unit 2
 * Lansing Power Station Units 2 and 3
 * Milton Kapp Generating Station Unit 1 (Clinton)
 * Sutherland Generating Station Unit 2 (Marshalltown)

The plan also designates two boilers at Dubuque Generating Station and another at the Sutherland Generating Station for retirement in 2015. Of this list, only one boiler (Lansing 3) is currently operational, and the replacement generation will come in significant part from running newer coal boilers at higher capacity.

Plant Data

 * Owner: Interstate Power and Light Company
 * Parent Company: Alliant Energy
 * Plant Nameplate Capacity: 157 MW (Megawatts)
 * Units and In-Service Dates: 38 MW (1955), 38 MW (1955), 82 MW (1961)
 * Location: 3001 East Main St., Marshalltown, IA 50158
 * GPS Coordinates: 42.049258, -92.863276
 * Coal Consumption:
 * Coal Source:
 * Number of Employees:

Emissions Data

 * CO2 Emissions: 1,375,365 tons (2006), 1,036,335.94 tons (2008)
 * SO2 Emissions: 6,560.38 tons (2008)
 * SO2 Emissions per MWh:
 * NOx Emissions: 2,021.90 (2008)
 * Mercury Emissions:

Coal Waste Sites

 * Sutherland Generating Station Main Ash Settling Pond
 * Sutherland Generating Station Unit 1 & 2 Initial Settling Pond
 * Sutherland Generating Station Unit 3 Initial Settling Pond

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Sutherland Generating Station Unit 4
 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * Iowa and coal
 * Alliant Energy
 * United States and coal
 * Global warming

External Resources

 * Existing Electric Generating Units in the United States, 2005, Energy Information Administration, accessed Jan. 2009.
 * Environmental Integrity Project, "Dirty Kilowatts: America’s Most Polluting Power Plants", July 2007.
 * Facility Registry System, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, accessed Jan. 2009.
 * Carbon Monitoring for Action database, accessed Feb. 2009.*Coal plant canceled in Marshalltown, WCF Courier, accessed June 2010.