Environmental Research Foundation, June 23, 2009

SUB-SEA CARBON STORAGE FOR HUDSON COAL PLANT?

A Princeton researcher claims that coal plants like PurGen One proposed for Linden can have "near-zero emissions." Can this be true? [Corrected version: 12:30 p.m. June 23.]

By Peter Montague

In a presentation to the N.J. Clean Air Council on April 1, 2009, Robert Williams of Princeton University's Environmental Institute suggested that PSE&G's Hudson Unit 2 (a coal-burning plant in Jersey City) should bury its carbon dioxide beneath the Atlantic Ocean. The Clean Air Council is an advisory body to the N.J. DEP.

In his PowerPoint presentation, Williams hyped the PurGen One proposal, the 500 megaWatt coal-based power plant proposed for Linden. Presumably PurGen One's 70-mile-long pipeline would carry Hudson's CO2 out into the Atlantic for burial.

In his presentation, Dr. Williams uses the phrase, "near-zero emissions" to describe modern coal plants fitted with carbon capture and sequestration. Such plants exist only on paper.

Furthermore, it seems scientifically shady -- if not downright dishonest -- to claim that ANY coal-based operation can ever have "near-zero emissions" because of the massive emissions and releases that inevitably occur during coal mining, storage, transport, washing, processing, combustion, and waste storage and "disposal." Today, coal-waste "disposal" ordinarily means direct dispersal of toxicants into the natural environment, aiming to leave no fingerprints behind.

The annual production of toxic coal ash from U.S. power plants amounts to 130 million tons (260 billion pounds) -- and it all gets "stored" (temporarily) in shallow pits in the ground. See this story from the Center for Public Integrity, "Coal Ash: The Hidden Story" and see "Black Tide" from (of all places) GQ Magazine.

I particularly like this nationwide map of coal ash dumps; you can zoom in on the map, click on a power plant and learn how much toxic ash it produces each year. For example, the PSE&G Hudson plant in Jersey City produces 165,100 tons (330 million pounds) of toxic ash each year. So burying the Hudson plant's CO2 beneath the ocean would not give the Hudson plant anything close to "near-zero emissions."

Senator Barbara Boxer revealed recently that the federal Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have declared 44 coal-ash dumps so dangerous that their locations cannot be disclosed for fear that terrorists could easily sabotage them, releasing megaton quantities of toxic waste into nearby communities.

Robert Williams's work on carbon sequestration is funded by the BP oil company (formerly known as British Petroleum) and by Ford Motor Company. Note the logos at the bottom of this page.