Prairie Creek Generating Station

Prairie Creek Generating Station is a coal-fired power station owned and operated by Alliant Energy near Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

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 immediately 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.

May 2011: Fire
On May 19, 2011, officials said firefighters used water and foam on smoldering coal at the Prairie Creek plant. Alliant Energy workers reported that smoke was coming from a coal bunker. Firefighters cooled the smoldering coal with some water, then raised a hose up 10 stories and pumped foam into the top of the bunker. They also put foam on smoldering coal in two nearby bunkers. No injuries were reported, and the cause of the fire is being investigated.

Plant Data

 * Owner: Interstate Power and Light Company
 * Parent Company: Alliant Energy
 * Plant Nameplate Capacity: 245 MW (Megawatts)
 * Units and In-Service Dates: 23 MW (1951), 50 MW (1958), 149 MW (1967), 23 MW (1997)
 * Location: 3300 C St. Southwest, Cedar Rapids, IA 52404
 * GPS Coordinates: 41.944291, -91.63799
 * Coal Consumption:
 * Coal Source:
 * Number of Employees:

Emissions Data

 * CO2 Emissions: 1,264,616 tons (2006), 836,910.3968 tons (2008)
 * SO2 Emissions: 2,217.24 tons (2008)
 * SO2 Emissions per MWh:
 * NOx Emissions: 1,750.16 tons (2008)
 * Mercury Emissions:

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

Coal Waste Sites

 * Prairie Creek Generating Station Ash Pond Number 1
 * Prairie Creek Generating Station Ash Pond Number 2
 * Prairie Creek Generating Station Ash Pond Number 3
 * Prairie Creek Generating Station Ash Pond Number 4
 * Prairie Creek Generating Station Ash Pond Number 5
 * Prairie Creek Generating Station Ash Pond Number 6
 * Prairie Creek Generating Station Ash Pond Number 7
 * Prairie Creek Generating Station Ash Pond Number 8 - Plant Drains
 * Prairie Creek Generating Station Ash Pond Number 9 - Dumper Building
 * Prairie Creek Generating Station Ash Pond Number 10
 * Prairie Creek Generating Station Final Coal Pile Runoff Pond
 * Prairie Creek Generating Station Zero Liquid Discharge Pond

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * Iowa and coal
 * Alliant Energy
 * United States and coal
 * Global warming