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Contaminated Coal Waste

The Martin Lake power plant in Rusk County, Texas, ranks first in the state for total coal waste and most of the contaminated coal waste is disposed of in landfills.

Coal Plants in Texas

The eight new coal plants proposed to be built in Texas are projected by NRDC to generate 4,093,087 tons of contaminated coal waste, including 4,231 tons of toxic metals. Texas ranks 1st in waste production expected from new coal plants, and 1st in toxic metals from those plants.

Texas ranks 1st in the country for contaminated coal waste, with 13,454,000 tons of waste reported to the U.S. Energy Information Administration in 2005. The state also ranks 1st in toxic metals contaminating the waste, with 8,915 tons of toxic metals, based on NRDC estimates.

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Statistics for Proposed Plants in Texas

Plant	County	Estimated tons of coal waste	Estimated tons of toxic metals
Oak Grove	Robertson	1,314,629	1,372
Spruce 2	Bexar	586,234	612
Limestone 3	Limestone	545,197	569
Summit Power IGCC		439,675	459
Sandow 5	Milam	439,675	459
Tenaska	Nolan	439,675	459
Sandy Creek	McClennan	180,966	167
Coleto Creek	Goliad	147,035	136

Statistics for Existing Plants in Texas

Plant	Owner (primary)	County	Tons of coal waste	Percent of waste disposed	Tons of toxic metals
Martin Lake	TXU Generation Co LP	Rusk	2,540,700	61.2%	1,903
Limestone (TEGE)	NRG Energy	Limestone	1,851,500	74.2%	1,145
Pirkey	Southwestern Electric Power Co	Harrison	1,499,400	95.3%	561
Monticello (TXUGEN)	TXU Generation Co LP	Titus	1,455,900	66.0%	1,076
San Miguel (SMIG)	San Miguel Electric Coop Inc	Atascosa	1,282,100	99.6%	308
Sandow 4 & 5	TXU Generation Co LP	Milam	907,800	80.8%	546
W A Parish	NRG Energy	Fort Bend	689,000	41.8%	634
Big Brown	TXU Generation Co LP	Freestone	655,900	51.2%	722
Twin Oaks Power One	PNM Altura	Robertson	456,000	49.3%	285
Fayette Power Project (LCRA)	Lower Colorado River Authority	Fayette	437,200	10.2%	275
Welsh (SWEP)	Southwestern Electric Power Co	Titus	217,000	24.8%	323
Tolk	Southwestern Public Service Co	Lamb	211,300	1.4%	212
Harrington	Southwestern Public Service Co	Potter	205,200	8.2%	220
J T Deely	CPS Energy	Bexar	195,300	2.1%	185
Sandow Station	Alcoa US	Milam	192,500	40.0%	No Data
J K Spruce	CPS Energy	Bexar	165,600	24.2%	136
Oklaunion	Public Service Co of Oklahoma	Wilbarger	146,000	26.7%	138
Coleto Creek	ANP	Goliad	144,800	43.9%	138
Gibbons Creek	Texas Municipal Power Agency	Grimes	104,500	2.4%	107
AES Deepwater	AES NUGs	Harris	81,000	0%	No Data
Odessa Ector Generating Station †	PSEG Global	Ector	8,000	100.0%	No Data
Guadalupe Generating Station †	PSEG Global	Guadalupe	7,300	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