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Coal Plants in Utah

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The three new conventional coal plants proposed to be built in Utah are projected by NRDC to generate 296,257 tons of contaminated coal waste, including 278 tons of toxic metals. Utah ranks 20th in waste production expected from new conventional coal plants, and 23rd in toxic metals from those plants.

Utah ranks 17th in the country for contaminated coal waste, with 2,366,700 tons of waste reported to the U.S. Energy Information Administration in 2005. The state also ranks 17th in toxic metals contaminating its coal waste, with 2,027 tons of toxic metals, based on NRDC estimates.

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Statistics for New and Proposed Plants in Utah

Plant	County	Estimated tons of coal waste	Estimated tons of toxic metals
Intermountain 3	Millard	204,718	189
Sevier	Sevier	61,076	56
Bonanza *	Uintah	30,463	32

Statistics for Existing Plants in Utah

Plant	Owner (primary)	County	Tons of waste	Percent of waste disposed	Tons of toxic metals
Intermountain Power Project	Los Angeles City of	Millard	801,200	73.9%	808
Hunter	PacifiCorp-Rocky Mtn	Emery	653,000	91.4%	549
Huntington	PacifiCorp-Rocky Mtn	Emery	478,000	100.0%	390
Bonanza	Deseret Generation & Tran Coop	Uintah	330,200	100.0%	162
Carbon	PacifiCorp-Rocky Mtn	Carbon	70,000	100.0%	64
Kennecott Utah Copper (KUCC)	Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation	Salt Lake	34,300	100.0%	54

* 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 However, a plant should not be considered truly cancelled until all pending regulatory approvals have been withdrawn and the project has been categorically abandoned, and a plant will remain on the proposed list until NRDC can confirm that it has been cancelled in this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.

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