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Contaminated Coal Waste

Waste Projections for Proposed Plants

Around the country, 70 new conventional coal-fired power plants have been proposed. If built, these plants would produce more than 15 million tons of coal waste per year, contaminated by over 15 thousand tons of toxic metals. Waste projections for new and proposed plants only include fly and bottom ash.

Some new and proposed plants convert coal into a gas before combustion, a process called gasification, which results in a significantly different solid waste than that from conventional coal plants, with a much lower environmental risk. Those plants are not included on this page.

Plant	State	County	Projected Contaminated Waste (Tons)	Rank by Waste	Projected Toxic Metals (Tons)	Rank by Toxic Metals
Oak Grove	Texas	Robertson	1,314,629	1	1,372	1
Otter Creek	Montana	Custer	678,623	2	626	2
Spruce 2	Texas	Bexar	586,234	3	612	3
Glades	Florida	Glades	542,794	5	575	4
Limestone 3	Texas	Limestone	545,197	4	569	5
NextGen	South Dakota	Hughes	512,954	6	535	6
Tenaska	Texas	Nolan	439,675	7	459	7
Sandow 5	Texas	Milam	439,675	8	459	8
Big Stone	South Dakota	Grant	439,675	9	459	9
Prairie State	Illinois	Washington	412,634	10	437	10
Elm Road	Wisconsin	Milwaukee	327,685	16	395	11
AMP	Ohio	Meigs	325,864	17	392	12
Pee Dee/SC	South Carolina	Florence	365,555	13	387	13
Cross/Santee Cooper	South Carolina	Berkeley	365,555	14	387	14
Ely	Nevada	White Pine	394,054	11	364	15
Desert Rock	New Mexico	San Juan	366,937	12	339	16
White Pine	Nevada	White Pine	357,408	15	330	17
Cliffside	North Carolina	Rutherford	251,099	19	302	18
Trimble	Kentucky	Trimble	235,406	21	284	19
Big Cajun II - 4	Louisiana	Pointe Coupee	221,281	23	267	20
Longview	West Virginia	Monongalia	218,143	24	263	21
Washington County	Georgia	Washington	236,503	20	251	22
Longleaf	Georgia	Early	271,449	18	251	23
Iatan 2	Missouri	Platte	235,395	22	249	24
Seminole	Florida	Putnam	193,855	27	205	25
Norborne	Missouri	Carroll	193,080	28	205	26
Consumers Energy	Michigan	Bay	210,373	25	194	27
Intermountain 3	Utah	Millard	204,718	26	189	28
Dominion	Virginia	Wise	173,472	31	184	29
Greene County	Pennsylvania	Greene	160,623	38	170	30
Sandy Creek	Texas	McClennan	180,966	29	167	31
Plum Point	Arkansas	Mississippi	180,966	30	167	32
Enviropower	Illinois	Franklin	152,315	40	161	33
Two Elk 2	Wyoming	Campbell	169,656	32	157	34
Two Elk 1	Wyoming	Campbell	169,656	33	157	35
Hugo 2	Oklahoma	Choctaw	169,656	34	157	36
Great Lakes	Michigan	Gratiot	169,656	35	157	37
Elk Run/LS Power	Iowa	Black Hawk	169,656	36	157	38
Comanche 3	Colorado	Pueblo	169,656	37	157	39
Mid-Michigan	Michigan	Midland	153,482	39	142	40
Nebraska City 2	Nebraska	Otoe	149,297	41	138	41
Coleto Creek	Texas	Goliad	147,035	42	136	42
Shady Point 2	Oklahoma	Le Flore	147,035	43	136	43
Marshalltown	Iowa	Marshall	143,099	44	132	44
Toquop	Nevada	Lincoln	136,810	45	126	45
Wolverine	Michigan	Presque Isle	135,725	46	125	46
Turk/Hempstead	Arkansas	Hempstead	135,725	47	125	47
Weston IV	Wisconsin	Marathon	117,085	48	108	48
Spurlock 4	Kentucky	Mason	87,885	52	106	49
J. K. Smith	Kentucky	Clark	87,257	53	105	50
Nelson Creek	Montana	McCone	113,104	49	104	51
Spirit Wood	North Dakota	Stutsman	93,797	50	98	52
Big Cajun 1	Louisiana	Pointe Coupee	73,133	59	88	53
Sithe Global	Pennsylvania		83,081	55	88	54
River Hill	Pennsylvania	Clearfield	79,508	56	84	55
Springerville 4	Arizona	Maricopa	90,483	51	84	56
Springfield	Missouri	Greene	76,157	57	81	57
Basin/Dry Fork	Wyoming	Campbell	87,090	54	80	58
Beech Hollow	Pennsylvania	Washington	75,326	58	80	59
Dallman 4	Illinois	Sangamon	67,572	61	72	60
Alliant CFB	Wisconsin	Grant	67,862	60	63	61
Sevier	Utah	Sevier	61,076	62	56	62
Highwood	Montana	Cascade	56,552	63	52	63
Whelan EC II	Nebraska	Adams	49,766	64	46	64
Northampton	Pennsylvania	Northampton	31,737	65	34	65
Bonanza	Utah	Uintah	30,463	66	32	66
Greenbrier	West Virginia	Greenbrier	29,632	67	31	67
Wygen 3	Wyoming	Campbell	22,621	68	21	68
Holland	Michigan	Ottawa	17,644	69	16	69
UM-Columbia	Missouri	Boone	11,077	70	12	70

* 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.

** The Northampton plant is an existing plant that has applied to renew its operating permit. As a result, the plant is treated as both an existing plant, and a proposed plant.

For summary projections by state, click here. To download more data in Excel, including detailed plant-level information for both existing and proposed plants, click here.

Sources: Permit applications and news reports 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