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Coal Plants in Florida

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The two new conventional coal plants proposed to be built in Florida are projected by NRDC to generate 736,649 tons of contaminated coal waste, including 780 tons of toxic metals. Florida ranks 5th in waste production expected from new conventional coal plants, and 5th in toxic metals from those plants.

Florida ranks 7th in the country for contaminated coal waste, with 5,180,787 tons of waste reported to the U.S. Energy Information Administration in 2005. The state also ranks 12th in toxic metals contaminating its coal waste, with 3,029 tons of toxic metals, based on NRDC estimates.

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Statistics for New and Proposed Plants in Florida

Plant	County	Estimated tons of coal waste	Estimated tons of toxic metals
Glades *	Glades	542,794	575
Seminole	Putnam	193,855	205

Another new or proposed plant, the Polk power plant, is designed to use coal gasification, a process that results in a solid waste with significantly lower environmental risk than conventional coal waste. While NRDC believes all coal waste must be federally regulated, because of the lower environmental risk, NRDC lists gasification plants separately from conventional coal plants.

Statistics for Existing Plants in Florida

Plant	Owner (primary)	County	Tons of waste	Percent of waste disposed	Tons of toxic metals
Big Bend	Tampa Electric Co	Hillsborough	992,700	21.3%	No Data
Seminole Generating Station	Seminole Electric Coop, Inc	Putnam	912,000	27.5%	493
Crystal River	Progress Energy Florida	Citrus	777,100	7.3%	789
St Johns River Power Park	JEA	Duval	637,600	30.0%	510
Stanton Energy Center I	Orlando Utilities Comm	Orange	631,100	61.8%	319
Northside Generating Station	JEA	Duval	455,700	84.9%	31
Cedar Bay Generating LP (CEBAGE)	Cogentrix Energy	Duval	240,000	100.0%	125
Indiantown Cogeneration Facility LP	US Operating Services Company	Martin	205,000	100.0%	129
Crist	Gulf Power Co	Escambia	142,700	97.3%	365
Deerhaven Generating Station	Gainesville Regional Utilities	Alachua	72,600	0.6%	82
Lansing Smith (GUPC)	Gulf Power Co	Bay	70,300	100.0%	135
Central Power and Lime Incorp	Arroyo Energy	Hernando	41,900	0%	52
P L Bartow †	Progress Energy Florida	Pinellas	500	100.0%	No Data
Martin †	Florida Power & Light Co	Martin	300	100.0%	No Data
Turkey Point †	Florida Power & Light Co	Miami-Dade	300	100.0%	No Data
Riviera †	Florida Power & Light Co	Palm Beach	220	100.0%	No Data
Cape Canaveral †	Florida Power & Light Co	Brevard	200	100.0%	No Data
Manatee †	Florida Power & Light Co	Manatee	200	100.0%	No Data
Indian River †	Reliant Energy Inc	Brevard	100	100.0%	No Data
Port Everglades †	Florida Power & Light Co	Broward	100	100.0%	No Data
Suwannee River †	Progress Energy Florida	Suwannee	100	100.0%	No Data
Anclote †	Progress Energy Florida	Pasco	67	100.0%	No Data

* Plant has been successfully challenged in the courts or in regulatory proceedings, or has experienced other regulatory or financial setbacks that have put the project on hold. However, a plant should not be considered truly cancelled until all pending regulatory approvals have been withdrawn and the project has been categorically abandoned, and a plant will remain on the proposed list until NRDC can confirm that it has been cancelled in this manner.

† While these plants use oil, natural gas or other fuels rather than coal, they are listed here because they reported their waste to the Energy Information Administration.

Percent of waste disposed indicates the proportion of contaminated coal waste disposed of in landfills, ponds, or on- or off-site disposal facilities. For detailed information on how each plant reported its waste disposal in 2005, see the detailed data Excel spreadsheet.

Sources: Permit applications for new plants; Energy Information Administration data; NRDC estimates. The most recent data available from the EIA is from 2005 and it is possible that operational changes at particular plants will have changed the yearly waste volumes and disposal methods. Click here for detailed glossary of terms and our methodology.

last revised 3/12/2009