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Coal Plants in Georgia

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The two new conventional coal plants proposed to be built in Georgia are projected by NRDC to generate 507,952 tons of contaminated coal waste, including 501 tons of toxic metals. Georgia ranks 11th in waste production expected from new conventional coal plants, and 11th in toxic metals from those plants.

Georgia ranks 11th in the country for contaminated coal waste, with 3,508,910 tons of waste reported to the U.S. Energy Information Administration in 2005. The state also ranks 7th in toxic metals contaminating its coal waste, with 4,192 tons of toxic metals, based on NRDC estimates.

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Statistics for New and Proposed Plants in Georgia

Plant	County	Estimated tons of coal waste	Estimated tons of toxic metals
Longleaf	Early	271,449	251
Washington County	Washington	236,503	251

Statistics for Existing Plants in Georgia

Plant	Owner (primary)	County	Tons of waste	Percent of waste disposed	Tons of toxic metals
Bowen	Georgia Power Co	Bartow	989,500	31.2%	1,221
Scherer	Georgia Power Co	Monroe	740,700	63.5%	786
Wansley	Georgia Power Co	Heard	544,100	98.6%	627
Harllee Branch	Georgia Power Co	Putnam	435,300	95.6%	545
Yates	Georgia Power Co	Coweta	344,900	92.3%	380
Hammond (GPCO)	Georgia Power Co	Floyd	170,900	99.6%	235
Jack McDonough	Georgia Power Co	Cobb	144,790	82.7%	207
Plant Kraft (Port Wentworth)	Georgia Power Co	Chatham	50,000	100.0%	78
International Paper Savanna Mill	International Paper Co	Chatham	31,220	100.0%	37
Mitchell (GPCO)	Georgia Power Co	Dougherty	29,300	100.0%	33
McIntosh (SAEP)	Georgia Power Co	Effingham	28,100	53.4%	41
McManus †	Georgia Power Co	Glynn	100	100.0%	No Data

† 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