St. Johns River Power Park
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St. Johns River Power Park is a 1,358-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power station owned and operated by Jacksonville’s municipal electric utility JEA and Florida Power & Light of NextEra Energy near Jacksonville, Florida. It was commissioned in 1987-88.
In May 2017, co-owners JEA and FPL agreed to retire the plant in January 2018.[1][2] The plant was retired on January 8, 2018.[3]
Contents
Location
The undated satellite photo below shows the site of the now retired St. Johns River Power Park, which sits on 1,600 acres in northeastern Jacksonville. The site includes two unlined ash ponds and three unlined landfills.[1]
Plant Data
- Owner: Jacksonville’s municipal electric utility (JEA, 80%), NextEra Energy (20%)
- Parent Entity: City of Jacksonville, Florida
- Plant Nameplate Capacity: 1,358 MW
- Units and In-Service Dates: 679 MW (1987), 679 MW (1988)
- Retired: January 2018
- Location: 11201 New Berlin Rd., Jacksonville, FL 32226
- GPS Coordinates: 30.433667, -81.552528
- Coal Consumption:
- Coal Source:
- Number of Employees:
Emissions Data
- 2006 CO2 Emissions: 10,100,000 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions: 23,020 tons
- 2006 SO2 Emissions per MWh:
- 2006 NOx Emissions:
- 2005 Mercury Emissions:
Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from the St. Johns River Power Park
In 2010, Abt Associates issued a study commissioned by the Clean Air Task Force, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization, quantifying the deaths and other health effects attributable to fine particle pollution from coal-fired power plants.[4] The study found that over 13,000 deaths and tens of thousands of cases of chronic bronchitis, acute bronchitis, asthma-related episodes and asthma-related emergency room visits, congestive heart failure, acute myocardial infarction, dysrhythmia, ischemic heart disease, chronic lung disease, peneumonia each year are attributable to fine particle pollution from U.S. coal-fired power plants. Fine particle pollution is formed from a combination of soot, acid droplets, and heavy metals formed from sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and soot. Among those particles, the most dangerous are the smallest (smaller than 2.5 microns), which are so tiny that they can evade the lung's natural defenses, enter the bloodstream, and be transported to vital organs. Impacts are especially severe among the elderly, children, and those with respiratory disease. Low-income and minority populations are disproportionately impacted as well, due to the tendency of companies to avoid locating power plants upwind of affluent communities.
The table below estimates the death and illness attributable to the St. Johns River Power Park. Abt assigned a value of $7,300,000 to each 2010 mortality, based on a range of government and private studies. Valuations of illnesses ranged from $52 for an asthma episode to $440,000 for a case of chronic bronchitis.[5]
Table 1: Death and disease attributable to fine particle pollution from the St. Johns River Power Park
| Type of Impact | Annual Incidence | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Deaths | 16 | $120,000,000 |
| Heart attacks | 22 | $2,400,000 |
| Asthma attacks | 260 | $13,000 |
| Hospital admissions | 12 | $270,000 |
| Chronic bronchitis | 10 | $4,200,000 |
| Asthma ER visits | 15 | $6,000 |
Source: "Find Your Risk from Power Plant Pollution," Clean Air Task Force interactive table, accessed February 2011
Citizen groups
- Big Bend Climate Action Team
- Conservancy of Southwest Florida
- Environment Florida
- Florida Wildlife Federation
- Save It Now, Glades
- Sierra Club Florida Chapter
Articles and Resources
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "St. John’s power plant burned up to 4.5 million tons of coal each year," Sierra Club, May 16, 2017
- ↑ "Nearly 1.3 GW of coal capacity slated for closure in Mississippi, Florida," Utility Dive, Sept. 27, 2017
- ↑ "St. Johns River Power Park Officially Shuts Down," PEI, Jan 8, 2018
- ↑ "The Toll from Coal: An Updated Assessment of Death and Disease from America's Dirtiest Energy Source," Clean Air Task Force, September 2010.
- ↑ "Technical Support Document for the Powerplant Impact Estimator Software Tool," Prepared for the Clean Air Task Force by Abt Associates, July 2010
- Existing Electric Generating Units in the United States, 2005, Energy Information Administration, accessed Jan. 2009.
- Environmental Integrity Project, "Dirty Kilowatts: America’s Most Polluting Power Plants", July 2007.
- Facility Registry System, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, accessed Jan. 2009.
