July 26, 2005
American Lung Association of New York State
Environmental Advocates of New York
Hudson River Sloop Clearwater
New York Climate Rescue
New York Public Interest Research Group
Renewable Energy Long Island

NORTHEASTERN POWER COMPANIES TARGETED FOR DISPROPORTIONATE GLOBAL WARMING POLLUTION
NRG Energy, Dynegy Top Two Polluting Companies in the Northeast, Report Shows

Albany, NY - A new report More Heat than Light: Global Warming Pollution from the Northeast’s Dirtiest Power Producers released today by environmental groups found that a small number of the northeast’s dirtiest power companies are responsible for a disproportionate amount of power sector global warming pollution. The report also found that a majority, six of the top ten biggest emitting power plants are in New York.

The region’s ten dirtiest power companies emitted 64 percent of the global warming pollution while producing only 33 percent of the region’s energy. NRG Energy and Dynegy Northeast own the dirtiest power plant fleets in the region, producing global warming pollution at nearly twice the rate of the average power company in the region. NRG Energy alone produced 11 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions from the entire nine-state region in 2004. NRG Energy owns the coal-burning Huntley and Dunkirk facilities in western New York, and Dynegy owns the Roseton plant in Newburgh.

While Keyspan is fourth among the ten worst polluting companies in the report, its Boston office signed a letter to Massachusetts Governor Romney supporting the regional global warming pollution cap on power plants. Groups stated that this generally put them a bit ahead of the curve of other power plant owners and encourages them to reduce the emissions at their New York plants. The Northport plan on Long Island and the Ravenswood facility in Queens were among the regions top ten emitters of global warming pollution.

“There’s no time to lose in tackling global warming, and the biggest polluters must clean up.” said Christine Vanderlan, global warming program director with Environmental Advocates of New York. “Governor Pataki needs to require them to cut carbon dioxide emissions now.”

The report also analyzed plant-by-plant data and found that the 50 dirtiest power plants in the region emitted 80 percent of the sector’s global warming pollution while only producing 45 percent of the region’s energy. There are 188 facilities that contributed to the region’s electricity pool in 2004. Twenty-two of the 50 dirtiest plants, or 44% were located in New York. Six of those facilities were in the top ten.

“These dirty power companies and power plants are mainly fueling global warming, not the power grid,” said Melinda Sobin, environmental policy analyst for the New York Public Interest Research Group. “Fewer than one third of the power plants are producing more than three quarters of the power plant pollution and less than half the energy. This is a formula that New Yorkers should not have to settle for and illustrates why Governor Pataki needs to follow through on his promise to cut global warming pollution from power plants, which is overdue.”

With the region’s governors actively negotiating a cap on power plant pollution—the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)—the report shines a light the biggest emitters in the region, which will have to take significant steps to cut pollution. Governor Pataki started the RGGI talks in 2003 by inviting other northeastern governors to develop a program to reduce power plant carbon dioxide emissions.

We have a set of plant owners who are behind the times, and insist on using nineteenth century technology to power a 21st century economy,” said Gordian Raacke, executive director of Renewable Energy Long Island. “It’s just plain inefficient, and we have the technology to do a whole lot better. One thing this shows is that ten companies can make a big difference when it comes to cleaning up the power sector.”

“Governor Pataki promised to take action to cut power plant global warming pollution by this summer,” said Ryan Palmer, environmental associate with Hudson River Sloop Clearwater. “It’s high time he put pen to paper and followed through.”

Cuts in global warming pollution would also result in health benefits because the same dirty plants produce a disproportionate share of ozone forming pollution and fine particles.

“Addressing global warming pollution from power plants will improve public health,” said Peter Iwanowicz, vice president and chief policy officer for the American Lung Association of New York State. “Cutting power plant global warming gases will reduce the chance that pollution can be cooked in to harmful levels of ozone and it will lead to fewer smokestack fine particle emissions which have their own set of health implications.”

"With New York City facing deteriorating air quality (3rd worst in the nation) with over 200 deaths per year related to asthma, 840 heat-related deaths and 1,300 ozone-related deaths, the fight against global warming pollution is a key provision in guaranteeing the health of New Yorkers," said Marc Brammer, executive director of New York Climate Rescue.

The report analyzed emissions from 188 electric generators in the nine-state region including New York, the New England states, New Jersey, and Delaware, who are actively negotiating a carbon cap program to cut emissions from power plants in the region. The analysis used data from the federal Department of Energy on facility fuel use during 2004.